Last Life
by Aline Riva
Summary: The Doctor suffers a painful regeneration and finds now he only has one heart, as he did in his very first life. Knowing this means he's now in his final life, he tries to make the most of it with his new companion Janey. Then a threat from the skies looms to wipe out Earth's children - and that threat is being manipulated by his oldest enemy, the Daleks...*FUTURE BASED FIC*
1. Chapter 1

**Summary:**

**After responding to a distress call sent out through space, the Doctor arrived on a plague-stricken planet and quickly became infected with a deadly virus. On leaving the planet, the dying Doctor set Tardis coordinates for Earth, but regenerated before he could navigate a safe landing – and crashed the Tardis in woodland in North London. Pole dancer Janey Shelby, on her way home from work on a dark early winter morning, witnesses the crash and takes the Doctor back to her home to recover. But the regeneration has not been easy and the Doctor suffers horrific side effects of the transition, it is the worst regeneration he has ever suffered and when the pain wears off he finds he is disoriented and confused and suffers flashbacks to battles with old enemies. **

**As he recovers from his ordeal, he is shocked to discover he only has one heart - just like he had in his very first lifetime, confirming to him that he is indeed in his last life – there can be no more regenerations. As the Doctor comes to terms with the prospect of his own mortality, and the seemingly lasting effects of the tough regeneration that has damaged his memory, his friendship with Janey deepens and he begins to think about making the most of his final life with her - even though he knows Janey is destined to die very soon, shot to death by her violent ex boyfriend. But before he can warn her of what is to come, a threat looms on the horizon – an artificially created mass of energy that roams from planet to planet, seeking to devour young life forms. When the Doctor realises it has been programmed to wipe out the children of Earth, he knows he must act fast – by tracing the source controlling the mass.**

_**And then the missing piece of the Doctor's memory slides into place around the same time he realises why the pepper pot on Janey's kitchen table bothers him so much...the mass is being controlled by his oldest enemies. **_

_**Now he must act fast to save the children of earth – once again, he's up against the Daleks...**_

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**Author Note: **

**This is not my first Who fic, but it IS my first *full length* Dr Who fan fiction NOVEL. And this is a *future based fic* where he is in his final regeneration, it really *is* his last one, so this story features a final, future version of the Doctor! **

**If you want to try and picture _my_ version of the Doctor in this fic, all I will say is this: **

**Can you imagine how great Doctor Who would be, if he was played by Rik Mayall? :-)  
**

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**Rated:**** T**

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**Warnings: Contains some strong language, and some scenes of torture.  
**

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**Disclaimer:**** I own nothing, this is a work of fan fiction.**

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Chapter 1

The tall, leafless trees were swaying as a breeze picked up and branches that towered skywards shivered and bent as the breeze turned to a wind that grew stronger as the dark winter skyline, resistant to the coming of the dawn, was split by a fork of electricity that looked at first glance like lightning. Then another zigzag split the darkness, streaking across the sky and glowing electric blue. As it vanished another appeared and the trees began to bend harder as branches snapped, torn away from trees by the force of the whirling wind.

There was a crash like thunder and more electricity sparked in the sky.

The long, narrow road was deserted except for one woman who had missed her bus from the tube station and now faced a long walk all the way down Bramley Road, before sunrise, alone...and in the freezing January cold. Her coat was warm and thick and she carried a bag that contained her skimpy dancer's outfit and high-heeled shoes. As Janey Shelby walked in silver snow boots and wrapped her scarf tighter about her throat, she paused, glancing back at the tube station where the familiar sign and the word _Oakwood_ still blazed, lit up against the darkness.

_Then the lightning split the sky again._

She gave a sigh and shifted closer to the dense trees even though the branches were bare, because she was sure some shelter was better than none at all and it sounded like a storm was coming and she was more concerned about getting soaked in the freezing cold than lightning striking a tree...

She took her phone from her pocket and as it glowed in the dark she smiled as she scrolled down a list of names and dialled her brother.

"Come on!" she said as it rang, then it was answered and he sounded tired but anxious.

"What's the matter, Janey?"

I missed the bus. I couldn't afford a taxi. I'm so cold. I started walking but I think there's a storm coming..."

He gave a sigh.

"Ten minutes, okay? I'll get dressed and find my car keys and come and pick you up."

Her hazel eyes widened on hearing that.

"You can't find them?"

"You woke me up, Sis! Where are you now?"

"By Snakes Lane."

"I won't be long."

He hung up and she put her phone back in her coat pocket.

Then she stood there for a moment, watching as nothing stirred across the road, not a tree was shifting...

Yet somewhere behind her, off in the woodland, it seemed as if a tornado was approaching – trees were bending and a wind was swirling as lightening split the skies again.

She watched, fascinated by the odd behaviours of the weather.

Then the thunder rolled one more time, the sky flickered and glowed, lighting up from darkened winter gloom into shades of purple and crimson that made the tall trees look etched in charcoal against it.

Janey continued to stare.

Then, as she turned into Snakes Lane and went off the path, she carefully made her way into the woodland, glancing behind her a couple of times as she wondered if she was stupid or just plain adventurous to wander off into the woods in the dark, what ever she was, curiosity had won – but it wasn't dark, not as she got closer to the strange glow in the sky...

As she stood in the clearing and looked upwards, the skeleton trees seemed black against the strange glow that filled the sky. It was sky that was swirling, the wind was not here, not low to the ground – but high up above, where clouds whirled and twisted and in the eye of the storm, something was falling.

She looked upwards, fascinated by the shape that was rotating around as it glided downwards.

At first it looked flat and square, as it turned and slipped closer to earth, the wind picked up as and blew back her long dark hair.

She kept her eyes fixed on the object, almost hypnotised by the way it fell gracefully yet turned, around and around, then as the wind grew stronger her eyes widened and she backed away; it was going to land, and heavily, too...

It fell. She saw the four sides of it twisting as it slipped lower, she saw small square glass windows in the blue box and a light that was flashing on the top. It looked like an old-fashioned phone box, but bigger and heavier and – the crash as it hit the ground shook the earth beneath her feet.

Janey stared at the box; now it was upright, a door was half-open and light was blazing from the inside of it, sending out unearthly beams of white brilliance that escaped from the door, out through the windows...beams of light so blinding she put up her hand to shield her eyes.

_And then the lights went out._

Janey caught her breath and as she breathed out again it formed an icy fog in the air.

The sky was still glowing strange shades of bruises but that glow was starting to fade out now.

She took a step closer, watched the blue box and saw no movement within and then went closer still.

Janey reached out and touched a sign on the front.

"_Police box?"_ she wondered aloud.

Then the door was wrenched open.

She gave a gasp and took a step backwards, broken twigs snapping beneath her boots as she looked into the darkness. The box seemed pitch black inside; there was nothing to see, no hint of the light that had just lit up half the forest.

_Someone took in a sharp breath._

_Then a hand grabbed at the doorway._

Janey stared at the man who was on his knees and breathing heavily.

"_Help me!" _he said weakly, and collapsed half out of the box, his face turned away from her.

Janey hurried forward and got on her knees and turned the man over.

His eyes were closed and his breathing was rapid. His clothing was stained with scorch marks and as his eyes flickered open he looked up at the fading glow in the sky above.

"_Help me..."_ he said again.

Jane took her phone from her pocket.

She looked down at the man who was clearly breathing and then she looked back at the strange box.

"It's all right," she told him, giving his shoulder a shake as she looked down at him, "I'll call an ambulance."

He drew in a sharp breath and his eyes filled with panic.

"No, don't do that...last time that happened they almost killed me...they _did_ kill me...I mean...I...I don't know...get me out of here..."

His face was blackened with soot and his clothing still carried a smell of burning, yet she could see no visible injuries. But the man was shaken and weak as he pulled himself up to his knees again and then leaned against her heavily. He breathed hard and shivered in the cold as sweat poured off his face, making the soot run in streaks.

"_I think may have landed badly..."_

"You can say that again!" Janey murmured as she wondered why that box had come hurtling to the ground like that in the first place.

Then as he shivered again she made a decision, and called her brother.

As he answered the phone he sounded weary.

"Okay Janey – I'm on my way, I'm about to turn into Bramley Road - where exactly are you?"

She turned her head, hazel eyes fixed on the path through the clearing. And then she spoke again, urgently:

"I'm just inside Snakes Lane - on the left hand side – you'll need to stop the car and cut through. _I've got someone with me, he needs help_..."

* * *

As her brother glared at her, Janey felt more than a little guilty. Ritchie had shot her that _what now?_ look, as if he expected everything she got involved to would lead to trouble.

"Please, bruv – just help him into the car...take him back to my place, I'll look after him!" Janey's brother, who was older and bigger and heavier than her, just glared at her as he put his arm around the stranger and pulled him to his feet.

"You don't even know his name, do you?" he said accusingly.

Then he led him through the clearing, the man leaned on him and half-stumbled as they reached the parked car at the roadside.

"Does it matter _what _I know, Ritchie? He needed help!"

He opened the back passenger door and the man climbed in, slumping down across the seats.

Ritchie shut the car door and looked down at his little sister.

"First you came up with enough money to pay off Dad's debts after he died and then you get this job as a stripper –"

"Pole dancer."

"Same thing to me when its _my sister _taking her clothes off! I don't know where you got the money from, you've got a job I don't like to think about and now you're picking up strange men. It doesn't look good –"

"_I just bumped into him!"_ Janey's hazel eyes were blazing and Ritchie briefly fell silent.

He glanced through the window and saw the man was still slumped over the back seats.

"I'll get you home. And this time I won't mention this to Mum! She'd be worried out of her mind if she thought you picked up some drunk – or worse..."

He got into the car and Janey followed, shooting him an icy glance.

"_Worse?"_

Her brother kept his voice down as he started the car.

"He could be a drunk, or he could be on drugs – and you want to take him _home_ with you?"

The engine purred into life and he pulled away from the side of the road and they turned out of Snakes Lane.

As her brother drove along, still warning her about the dangers of picking up a strange man and then warning her if he puked in the car she would have to pay to get it cleaned, Janey stayed silent, thinking about the strangely coloured sky and the box that had fallen from it. She saw it again, the four corners of the large, heavy Policed Box rotating as the wind picked up, recalled how it had turned almost hypnotically, and then landed with a heavy crash that shook the ground.

_She thought about the way that box fell._

_Then she thought about the blinding light that had briefly blazed within._

Then she glanced over her shoulder at the man in the back of the car.

She couldn't even begin to explain any of it, she knew that for certain – Ritchie would never believe her...

* * *

When the car pulled up outside the ground floor converted flat where she had lived for more than a year, Janey got out and took her keys from her pocket. She hurried up the path and unlocked the door and turned on the light.

"Thank you," she heard the man say weakly as Ritchie helped him from the car and up the path.

As they stepped in through the front door her brother spoke up.

"If you cause ay trouble –"

The man gave a weary sigh.

"I can assure you I won't do that...I need to lie down, I'm in pain..."

"Take him through to the spare room," Janey said.

Ritchie did as she asked, leading the man into the darkened bedroom and leaving him to sit down heavily on the bed.

Then he stood over him for a moment.

"If you lay one finger on my sister," he said darkly, "You'll be in a lot _more_ pain, do you understand me?"

The man who sat on the bed was too exhausted to lookup.

"That's the last thing I'd do...Please trust me, I'm in a lot of pain, I just want to rest..."

Then he doubled up and gave a gasp as pain shot through his body.

"_Oh no, please stop!"_ he gasped weakly.

Ritchie stepped forward, about to emphasise on that warning he had just given, but light flooded into the gloomy room as Janey pushed the door open.

"Thanks for helping me out," she said, "and I'm fine – he's not dangerous. Don't worry about me, just go home."

As she stood with the light from the hallway behind her, Ritchie looked at his small, slender sister and then glanced back at the man who had now slumped down on to the bed.

"You don't know him, I'm not sure I should leave you alone with him."

She opened the door wider and stepped back.

"I said he's okay, he's _not_ dangerous!"

She saw doubt in his eyes and recalled the box falling to earth and decided the easiest way out of this would be to lie.

"Look," she said, lowering her voice as he joined her in the hallway, "I didn't tell you everything before – I _do_ know him...sort of...it's a long story. I'm quite safe to be alone with him. Now I just want to keep an eye on him and make sure he's okay, do I need to tell you more, or is that good enough for you?"

Ritchie shook his head.

"I never know what to think about the things you get up to these days – _or_ the people you mix with..."

They walked to the front door.

Janey opened it for him and thanked him again, hoping he would leave.

But he lingered for a moment.

"Mum worries about you," he told her, "and so does Sarah, she doesn't know what you do but she knows you work in London late at night. She knows you have to come home in the dark on the train."

At the thought of her nine year old sister, she felt a stab of guilt. She had been twelve years old when Sarah was born and although she loved her, the age gap had set them apart and they had only become closer in recent times – especially since she had left home. Being away had shown her how much she missed having her little sister barging into her room and trying on her clothes and spraying her perfume.

"She doesn't have to worry about me. Tell her I'm coming over at the weekend, I'll take her shopping in town."

"I'll tell her that," he replied, and he glanced over her shoulder down the hallway, towards the open door that led to the spare room.

"If he gives you any trouble call me - or the police."

"He's not going to be any trouble," she repeated, "just trust me on that."

"I hope you're right about him," her brother replied.

And as he left, she closed the door and breathed a relieved sigh.

* * *

As Janey locked the door, she turned her head, gaze fixed on the open bedroom door. _There wasn't a sound be heard...she couldn't even hear him breathing..._

Janey walked quickly down the hallway and went into the spare room.

"Are you all right?"

She had spoken quietly, and the man in the scorch marked clothing gave no reply as he lay on his side facing the wall.

Janey reached out and turned on the bedside lamp. As it filled the room with a soft glow, she gently closed her fingers on the torn sleeve of his jacket and gently shook him.

He gave a gasp and woke with a jolt that made her jump too, and she stepped back he turned over sharply, breathing hard as sweat made the soot that smeared his face being to run once more.

_"Don't do that to me!"_ he said nervously, _"I'm just into my new regeneration, you have no idea what it was like for me..."_

And then he paused, focussing on nothing in front of him as his eyes darted left then right as he searched his confused mind.

"There was a distress signal, I couldn't ignore it. They were dying when I got there...whole planet was dying... "

Janey stared at him.

"Planet?" she wondered, and thought of her brother's remark about drugs.

Then he shivered and wrapped his arms tightly about his body as pain cut through him and he started to shake.

"Don't touch me..."

Janey slowly shook her head.

"No worries, mate...I wasn't planning to!"

Then he gave another gasp of pain and as panic registered in his eyes he took in several shallow breaths.

"This is wrong...something's gone very wrong...I ache to my bones..."

Then he focussed on her and sky blue eyes met her own shade of hazel.

"Do I look _strange_ to you?"

He sounded on the brink of panic.

She shook her head.

"You look a bit strung out...and you definitely need to get those filthy clothes off...was there a fire in that blue box? You look like you've been near a fire...too close to a fire?"

As the pain subsided he relaxed his body a little, took in an easier breath and struggled to sit up, pulling himself up and then half-reclining on pillows. He fell silent as he looked at the young woman who stood before him. Being a Time Lord meant he knew everything that had ever been and ever would be, and even now, after the most painful regeneration of his many lives, something in his confused mind was telling him, he ought to know her from somewhere:

She was in her early twenties, quite small, slender, with striking hazel eyes that she framed with heavy black eyeliner that matched the colour of her long hair...

"What's your name?" he asked her.

He was still breathless and still sweating and as he rested on the pillows looking at her he was noticeably trembling.

"Janey Shelby," she replied, "I was by Snakes Lane when you crashed in that blue box...why were you in that thing? Why was up in the air in the first place? Are you some sort of inventor? Did you invent that flying box?"

His gaze was still locked on to hers.

"I know your name, I've heard it a long time ago...I wasn't me then...I get around, it's complicated... but I do, I _do_ know your name –"

He drew in a sharp breath and pain registered on his face as he broke out in a heavier sweat and his pupils shrank to pinpricks.

"_Help me!"_

And he turned on his back as his eyes fixed on the ceiling and he breathed short, shallow breaths as pain shuddered through his body until he felt as if his bones were breaking.

"Something's wrong..."

He gave a sob that was cut off by a cry of pain as he shivered and his hair became damp with sweat. The soot that marked his face and clothing was starting to wear off against the pale pillow case and the sheets that covered the bed.

"Did you take something?" she wondered, feeling helpless as she watched him go through the kind of agony she had only ever seen in movies when heroin junkies went cold turkey.

He gave no reply as his body was rattled by tremors that seemed to be shaking him to the bone.

She leaned over him and placed her hands on his shoulders and it came as a shock to find that even through his scorched shirt, his skin felt damp and ice cold at the same time and he was shaking so violently holding on to him seemed to make her own bones shudder.

"Please tell me what's wrong, are you on drugs? Will this get worse? Can you even hear me?"

The shaking stopped as suddenly as it started. His gaze suddenly shifted and locked on to her as he drew in a breath.

"I'm cold..."

As he spoke he blinked and a tear ran down his face. He closed his eyes and shivered again. Beneath the soot that still marked his face, his skin was pale as chalk and shone with sweat.

Then as he lay there his lips parted and he whispered quietly:

"_I ache to my bones. I'm thousands of years old...my time was up long ago... something went wrong, I hurt inside...why am I so cold?"_

And he shivered again and gave an exhausted sigh as he slid into a deep sleep and continued to shiver.

Janey reached for the quilt that was folded at the bottom of the bed and carefully draped it over him, covering him up to his shoulders. But he was still shivering. His hair was soaked with sweat and he was filthy from the fire or the smoke or whatever had caused him to be so blackened; he needed to get cleaned up but was in no fit state to get up from the bed.

He gave a whimper of pain and shivered harder.

Janey kicked off her boots and took off her thick coat and got in bed beside him, pulling the covers up tight as she cautiously slid her arms around him and pulled his trembling body closer.

"I don't know who you are or what's wrong with you," she whispered, "but I'm trying to help. I'll keep you warm..."

And then Janey held on to the stranger whose body was ice-cold, she held him as he shivered, whispered words of comfort as he cried out from pain and exhaustion and stayed by his side, holding him as the sun rose and she hoped he would recover - while the heat of her body seemed to do little to take the ice from his blood...

* * *

It was almost mid day by the time he awoke.

As he opened his eyes the sunlight filtering through white nets stung at his eyes and he turned over, away from the glare. As he blinked and tried to regain focus, he became aware that he wasn't alone. There was a young woman beside him and she was watching him intently and one look in her eyes told him she had many questions to ask. He thought about the Tardis, the way he had landed in the woods, the sudden violence of his regeneration...

She was coming sharply into focus now.

He looked into the eyes of the woman he had woken up with.

"Nice to meet you," he said, feeling awkward, "I'm the Doctor. Thanks for last night... I mean, thanks for helping me out..."

She started to smile as she caught the look on his face, as if waking up beside her had been the last thing he had expected to do.

"You were in a real state last night. I kept you warm, you were so cold."

And as she got out of bed he breathed a sigh of relief as he saw she still had her clothes on. Regeneration was an unpredictable business and he had little memory of _anything_ that had happened the night before...

She was asking him if he wanted some breakfast.

The Doctor said nothing, sitting up sharply as he studied the back of his own hand.

"Or I could make you some tea? Or coffee? You need something to warm you up – you was freezing cold last night! I'd like to know why, because if you took something illegal, believe me, you don't want to take it again – you was a total wreck!"

He was still looking the back of his own hand. As he studied it, his hand began to tremble but this time it was nothing to do with pain.

"_It's like dying,"_ he whispered, _"every time it happens, its like death, it hurts as much as death and afterwards nothing is ever the same again..."_

He took in a sharp breath as tried to hold back from weeping.

"And this time, it just wasn't right, I know it - I feel strange!"

As he looked at her, his eyes were glassy with tears.

"What are you talking about?" she asked him.

He looked again at the back of his hand.

_"Regeneration. It's a normal biological process, a way for my body to renew itself. But the problem with it is, each time I regenerate my whole body changes, it's more than just a physical change, its complicated and nothing goes back the same way again – when I die a new man walks away, can you understand that?"_

She stared at him as she slowly shook her head.

"You're not making sense," she admitted,"but at least you're not as ill as you was last night."

Then as she looked at him a sudden thought came to mind and she hoped she was right, because anything would be better than assuming he was crazy...

"Did someone spike your drink?"

He blinked. Suddenly he understood the situation; she knew _nothing_ about him...

"Yes you _did_ see my blue box fall from the sky, and while that might seem impossible to you, I haven't suggested _you _were on a bad trip last night, have I?"

His eyes seemed clear and focussed now and his tone was somewhat icy.

She shook her head.

"No," she said quietly, "look, Doctor – who ever you are – I'm not trying to insult you, I'm just trying to make sense of this."

He pushed the covers back and got out of bed, the room swayed and he leaned on the bedside table as he fought off a wave of nausea.

"I need to get back to my Tardis. I can't stay here, I don't even know who I am."

And he staggered forward and Janey put her arm around him to steady him.

"And that's why you shouldn't be going any where!"

He reached down and closed his hand over hers, then politely removed it from his waist.

"I can manage, thank you."

Then he looked down at his smoke blackened clothing.

"I need to get cleaned up."

"I'll run you bath," she told him.

* * *

As Janey left the room the Doctor tried to recall why and how this situation had come about...memories were falling into place, but in a different order, as if his mind had been taken apart by the regeneration and put back together with pieces missing, the mosaic was not complete, it was as if there were gaps inside his head where recollections refused to slot back in:

There had been a distress signal, the Tardis had picked it up and he had followed it, to find a plague filled planet far off in another solar system. The virus had quickly infected him and he had known regeneration was inevitable. He recalled setting the coordinates for Earth, because it was the one place in the galaxy where he loved to be and could think of nowhere better to adjust to his new body...

But something had gone wrong, not only with his violent and sudden regeneration, but there was something _else_ too...

_"Why did I crash?"_ he wondered aloud, recalling how he had set the Tardis coordinates for Earth and set the auto controls...the Tardis should have landed without his help, without any problems...

He looked towards the window where weak winter sunshine lit up a sky partly dotted with white clouds, he fixed his gaze between those clouds and into the blue as he thought beyond it and wondered what had happened, what had been out there to swat the Tardis like a fly and send it spinning down to Earth the way it had...

_"What's going on?"_ he murmured, then he turned from the window slowly, trying to avoid the dizziness that sudden movement still caused and he walked out of the room, turning into the narrow hallway and following the sound of running water.

The door at the end of the hall was open and steam was escaping. His bones ached and chills swept over him, lighter now but all the same, their touch was enough to send sharp trembles through his body, rattling bones, reminding him that he was still not over this painful transition.

But at least he was steadier now.

The Doctor walked towards the open door feeling stronger.

Then the hallway warped and twisted and as he slid to the floor his back hit the radiator and pipes clanged, it was a jarring sound, metal against metal.

And the Doctor blinked and the hallway was gone:

_The slam of metal on concrete sounded. They were marching in, through the suburbs, their gleaming silver bodies looked invincible, their faces were emotionless and as they marched, the sound of metal soldiers filled the air. _

Then a Cyberman reached out a silver hand and clamped it about his throat.

As the Doctor fought for air a jumble of memories flashed through his mind:

He first met them before his very first regeneration, many centuries ago, and then again in his second life, when he had sealed them in their ice tomb on Telos and believed he put them into eternal sleep.

_But creatures like that did not die out or give up easily._

_That metal hand was still clamped about his throat as he struggled to breathe._

He had met them again in his fourth regeneration, and his fifth, his sixth and seventh...

_Old enemies died hard._

_But so did old Time Lords, too... he was the last of his kind and he would go out fighting. He would die with his boots on and defiance blazing in his eyes.  
_

The Doctor struggled to breathe and the grip on his throat choked off any chance he stood of crying out for help.

_The water was still running in the bathroom._

He thought of Janey and wished he could warn her, but he couldn't breathe, just couldn't take in air and that cold metal hand was crushing and choking him as dead eyes looked at him impassively, watching him die as it squeezed the life out of him...

He had known them in every lifetime; at some point on his travels he had often encountered the Cybermen. They knew him; they sought to destroy him because he was the only one who could stop them...

_The Doctor was sure his neck was about to snap._

He was only a few hours into his new regeneration, he could easily survive and recover from a broken neck...but these things wouldn't stop there...they'd take him away and have him tortured, they would replace his body and make him one of them, he knew it as he tried in vain to breathe and the world around him grew tunnel-dark and began to fade out...

* * *

_Then someone was shaking him._

Her voice brought him out of the hallucination.

The hallway was bright because sunlight streamed through a glass panel in the front door. There were no Cybermen, although as he looked into Janey's concerned eyes he could still hear an echo of their marching armies somewhere far off at the back of his mind.

"Slow down," she said softly, "Try and stay calm, breathe slowly."

He reached up and rubbed his throat, expecting to feel a painful bruise, but there was none, instead just an dull ache in his upper chest because he had panicked and hyperventilated.

"What happened?" she asked him quietly.

As he got up, she offered him her hand and this time he accepted her help, feeling grateful for extra strength at a time when he felt drained.

"I saw them," he said, avoiding her gaze because he already knew she doubted his sanity, "Cybermen..._hundreds_ of them! I saw the metal army marching - it's already happened, it was a long time ago..."

And he cautiously met her gaze.

Janey had given up on trying to work him out. Every time she doubted his sanity she recalled the blue box that fell from the sky - and that alone was enough to leave a huge question mark hanging over everything...

"Would you like me to help you in there?" she offered.

They reached the bathroom door and the Doctor smiled briefly.

"I'll be fine; I can do this on my own."

And he went into the bathroom and shut the door. As Janey heard the lock slide across she tapped on the door.

"Doctor? "

"What?" he said, and that snappy tone was back in his voice.

"I don't think you should lock the door- you're not well, you might pass out or –"

"_I'm fine." _

Now his tone was _definitely_ icy.

Janey felt uneasy at the thought of leaving him in a locked bathroom after all he had been through.

"I'll check on you in five minutes." She said through the closed door.

_"Fine, whatever..."_

He sounded genuinely annoyed at her concern for him and Janey decided to give him a few moments peace, she went through to her own bedroom to change out of her clothes and put on a bathrobe because when he got out of there, she wanted to grab a shower. Then she wondered what she could give him to wear, and thought about the few items of clothing that had been left at the back of her wardrobe since she had broken up with her former boyfriend.

She opened up the wardrobe and began to sort through clothing that had hung there untouched for more than eight months.

* * *

While he had the warmth of the water and the peace and solitude brought to him by the locked door, the Doctor gave a sigh and lay back in the water, feeling the aches and pains slide out of his bones as the heat of the water made the deep hurting slide away.

His filthy clothing was in a heap on the bathroom floor and as he had undressed he been relieved to see his body was reasonably toned, he was in good shape - but the bathroom mirror was steamed over and he had yet to wipe it and look into the glass and discover his new face.

Part of him didn't want to do it; regeneration was a dangerous, unpredictable business, especially when forced suddenly through illness or injury. And this regeneration had been violent and painful and he was still recovering from it, the physical pain was easing but the mental pain had only just begun; that hallucination about Cybermen had been terrifyingly real...

_He didn't doubt there would be more horrifying visions before his new body began to settle down._

As he lay back in the water, memories crowded him and he recalled the faces of so many he had known and travelled with over his lifetimes. Some he recalled by name, others were nameless because the regeneration had torn up his old memory and left his new one scattered about in pieces.

He had known and lost so many people who had been dear to him, so many he had loved...

The Doctor felt an ache in his chest and he gave a quiet sob as tears ran down his face.

Then he lay there in the silence, listening for Cybermen who existed only in his nightmares as he glanced over at the steamed up bathroom mirror.

_He wanted to know what his new face looked like, but right now, he didn't have the courage to find out, he didn't have the courage to do anything at all except cry for the past, all of his past lives, and all of those he had loved and lost..._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

As the ache melted from his bones, the Doctor closed his eyes, lulled off to sleep by the water that covered his body. He was sliding into a warm place filled with no dreams of monsters and old enemies and it felt so good to be free of pain, like he was slipping into a place where no suffering existed...

Then a knock on the bathroom door brought him back to reality as he gasped and spluttered and coughed out soapy water, then grabbed the side of the bath to pull himself up before he went under again.

He sat up and took in a shaken breath as he realised Janey had been right – he shouldn't have locked the door, if she hadn't just knocked, he probably would have drowned...

"Doctor?" she called, "Are you all right in there?"

He splashed his face with water and then reached down and pulled the plug out, feeling relieved the potentially lethal bath tub was now draining.

"I'm okay!" he called back, feeling stiff as he rose from the draining water and reached for a towel.

He dried himself quickly and then started to ache and shiver, it was not as bad as before but the shaking was still there and coming out of the water had made his skin feel paper-thin even though the heating was on and the house was warm.

He quickly grabbed a bath robe that was hanging on the back of the door and put it on. Then he ran his fingers through damp hair, pushing it out of his eyes.

He turned towards the steamed up mirror and hesitated again.

"_It wasn't easy this time,"_ he murmured, _"I wonder what this regeneration's done to my face..."_

He still felt a sense of dread as he thought about wiping the mist from the mirror.

But Janey knocked again and he turned away from the mirror and unlocked the door.

"Sorry I took so long," he said apologetically.

Then he thought about how he had almost drowned and the chill that swept over him made him shiver.

He laughed nervously.

"I almost fell asleep in there!"

And as he looked into her eyes, his smile faded.

"Actually I _did_ fall asleep. Thanks for waking me, I was just about to go under!"

Her eyes widened as she looked back at him.

"I knew you shouldn't have locked the door!"

He stepped out of the bathroom and Janey spoke up again.

"My ex left some of his stuff here when we broke up. I think he's forgotten about it, but I don't exactly like to contact him and to be honest with you, it's just been gathering dust. But it's a lot cleaner than the clothes you had on last night. I left it all on the bed for you, he's about your size, too."

"Thanks," the Doctor replied, and then he paused, looking intently at Janey.

_"I need to ask you something."_

"What do you want to know?"

He hesitated. He recalled how he had to wanted to wipe the mist from the mirror, and decided perhaps it would be best to hear her opinion before gathering courage to see his reflection for the first time.

"This is going to sound like a very strange question," he began nervously, "but..._what do look I like?_"

She stood there and laughed softly; he had said that like he was expecting bad news. As she looked at him she found that hard to believe...

"A lot better than you did last night."

"No, Janey – I mean what do I _look_ like?"

She smiled again as she looked at him, noticing the blueness of his eyes and the way the light caught on his silky dark hair.

"_You look all right."_

"But what's my _face_ like? Am I ugly? Or am I tall dark and handsome?"

She hesitated and then saw worry was clouding his eyes.

"You can be totally honest with me," he said anxiously, "I don't want you to lie!"

"You're fairly tall – dark hair... and yeah, I'd say you're a good looking fella."

He looked into her eyes.

"Are you just saying that to be kind? Because this regeneration was rough, it was painful and I _know_ these things can get messed up sometimes. Are you telling me the truth?"

"You look just fine to me," she promised him, "I wouldn't lie to you."

And the Doctor turned and walked towards the bedroom, feeling almost ready to walk in through the door and turn around and look in the dressing table mirror. But then he stopped at the doorway and glanced back at Janey.

"You wouldn't lie to me out of sympathy, would you? If it's that bad the least you could do is warn me before I look in the mirror."

She went over to join him, standing beside open bedroom door.

"There is nothing wrong with the way you look. Stop worrying! Go and look in the mirror!"

He took a deep breath and took a step forward, then abruptly turned around and shook his head.

_"I can't do it!_

He ran his fingers through his dark hair and met her gaze once more.

"You don't know what its like for me when I regenerate – even _I_ don't know what I'll turn out like! I could be old, young, fat, thin, handsome, ugly, I could be anything, I have no control over my appearance when I make a transition, and it's even more random and risky under sudden circumstances. After the way I died in my last life I'm lucky I came out of this looking human!"

He stopped talking and stared at Janey, who was smiling as amusement danced in her eyes.

"It's not funny!" he exclaimed, "I'm really worried about myself!"

Janey had come to the conclusion that she liked this man, even though she didn't know how police boxes could fly and she couldn't help but wonder if the Doctor was slightly crazy– but even if he was, he wasn't crazy in a dangerous way. He came across as eccentric, the rest she had yet to work out, but she knew he would become even more neurotic if she didn't lay his fears to rest.

"You're in good shape," she told him,"for your age..."

His eyes grew wider.

"Do I look _very_ old? How old? Eighty, ninety?"

She laughed softly as she shook her head.

"You don't look old, I mean, you're not a young man, you're not _my _age, you're older than me..."

"How much older?"

"I don't know," she said honestly, "Late thirties, maybe forties... if you're any older you don't look it... does that help?"

He gave a sigh.

"Not really. "

And he paused and thought about it, then snapped his fingers as an idea came to him.

"Let's do this another way – would you go on a date with me, or does the possible thought of kissing me make you want to vomit? Be honest!"

And he smiled hopefully.

She laughed again as she shook her head.

"Do you really, really want to know my answer to that?"

"Yes!"

"Purely on looks alone, I think I'd have to say this..."

And she grabbed hold of his bathrobe and pulled him closer, kissing him softly and then letting go again.

The Doctor stared at her for a moment, briefly brushing his fingertips to his lips as he wished that kiss had lingered.

"It's _that_ good?"

She smiled.

"You look just fine," she promised him, "if you don't believe me, go and look in the mirror."

"I'll do that!"

The Doctor went into the bedroom.

Janey lingered by the door and watched as he cautiously looked into the mirror. He stared at the stranger reflected in the glass, and then took a closer look.

And then he started to smile.

"You're right," he told her as he turned back to the doorway, "I can't complain at all – I can get used to this..."

And he looked back at the mirror as all trace of anxiety vanished from his eyes as he took in his new appearance.

"Not bad," he remarked, "Pretty good, actually – I rather like the new me!"

And as he continued to study his reflection, Janey turned and walked away from the doorway, leaving him alone to get to know his own face.

She was still smiling as she went into the kitchen to make some tea – the Doctor certainly was strange, but she couldn't deny that she had warmed to him, he had a likeable kind of strangeness about him that she was sure she could get used to. She barely knew him, but she was quickly becoming fond of him and for reasons she couldn't explain, it felt so right to like this strange man who owned a flying police box...

* * *

As the Doctor walked into the kitchen, Janey smiled up him and pulled out a chair beside her own.

"Come and sit down," she gestured to the steaming mugs on the table, "I made us some tea."

He glanced down at his t-shirt and denim jeans as he took a seat.

"Thanks for the clothes...it's not quite me though. I'm not sure what me _is_ yet...I'll know when I get back to the Tardis..."

"Your blue box?"

"It's not what it seems to be – I'll show you what I mean when we go back."

And he sipped his tea.

Her eyes widened.

"_Go back?_ You can't just go back – I don't even know how you came to be in that thing in the first place."

He set the tea down on the table and gave a sigh.

"I know it sounds hard to believe, but there is more to that box than meets the eye. If you let me show you what's inside it –"

"How can anything be inside it?"

He gave her a knowing smile.

"How did it fly through the air?"

And she looked back at him, feeling as if a question mark hung over the situation, and that situation was one that couldn't be resolved here at the kitchen table...

"How do you feel?" she asked him.

"I've felt better, but I do need to get back to my Tardis, I really need to get back as soon as I can."

She said nothing as she watched him sip his tea. Then he put the mug down on the table, his gaze drawn to the salt shaker and the pepper pot that sat in the middle. His gaze stayed fixed on the items as if fascinated by something.

_"Doctor?"_

He heard her voice, but gave no rely as he reached out and cautiously lifted up the pepper pot.

As he raised it from the table he looked at the shape of the thing and wondered why he couldn't take his eyes off it and why the sight of it made him go so cold inside.

And then light blazed from a round eyestalk and an electronic, high-pitched voice screamed:

"_EXTERMINATE!"_

The light blazed within the eyestalk and the Doctor dropped the pepper pot and scrambled from his seat, knocking over the tea as he stepped back abruptly from the table.

Then he stared at the knocked over pepper pot and he kept on looking at it as he breathed hard and a chill ran through his body.

"What's wrong with you?"

Janey was up from her seat and cleaning up the mess but the Doctor was still staring at the table, watching as she set the salt and pepper upright once more and the two pots stood side by side, the salt, in a sleek, glass shaker, did not bother him at all. But the pepper pot, with its stout base and its rounded body...

"I'm sorry!"

He shook his head, wishing he could simply shake off the image of the eyestalk and the screeching voice that was still ringing in his ears as it faded out.

He had broken out in a sweat and as he looked at Janey his eyes were wide with fear.

"I don't know what I just saw - I _should _know but I can't remember! I'm sorry..."

Janey gave a sigh.

"And you want to go back and find that blue box of yours? There's no way you can do that, not today – you need to get some more rest."

The Doctor was visibly shaken.

"You're right, maybe I should. I'll go and lie down."

And he turned away and left the room.

Janey stood there in the kitchen, looking thoughtfully at the slender salt shaker and the stout pepper pot, then she shook her head, guessing she had been right – the Doctor was in no fit state to go anywhere, at least not for a while...

* * *

The Doctor fixed his gaze on the ceiling as the room turned sharply and he broke out in a cold sweat all over again.

In his mind the eye stalk glowed and the voice screeched _EXTERMINATE _again and he closed his eyes, wishing he could shut out the strange images that invaded his thoughts. He searched his broken threads of memory and many lifetimes flashed before his eyes in so many little pieces he couldn't catch any of it, all he could do was watch as half memories of long-gone lives flitted before his vision and disappeared again.

Something was out there, somewhere.

He knew it but couldn't name it, even though instinct told him he ought to know:

_It was an old enemy..._

_But there had been many enemies over the centuries_.

He gave a sigh and closed his eyes, welcoming the sensation of becoming whole again as the room stopped spinning and the memories faded away like ghosts. A strange thought came to mind and he laughed.

"_I'm the most haunted man in the universe,"_ he murmured as he looked around the quiet room and thought of the Tardis and wondered how much of his mind would come back to him once he was home.

The Tardis was his only home now; it was the only place left he had to go that tied him to his past and his roots.

_All was lost now; he was the last Time Lord._

He recalled the Master's death and a sharp pain ran through his heart – it felt like the loss of a brother, the loss of his only link to any kind of kinship, despite the fact that they had been enemies. _They should have been friends_. But how could he have changed the heart of one that was so deep and dark inside?

The doctor was blinking back tears and he was sure it was not for the loss of the Master – just the loss of the last surviving Time Lord whose death had confirmed his worst fears – now he really was the only one left in the universe, and that was indeed a lonely thought...

The Master had died many lifetimes ago. Back then he had been in his tenth reincarnation. That had been so far back he struggled to count how many more lives he had lived – certainly more than thirteen...

_Perhaps he had just been lucky._

That thought was a reassuring one after going through a regeneration that felt as if each cell had been torn out and replaced one by one, as if the transformation which had taken seconds had taken hours. If he thought about it too deeply he was sure he could still feel the new cells swirling inside him, renewed but not settled and that thought made a wave of panic wash over him.

The Doctor sat up and took in a deep breath, reminding himself he was solid, it was over - and even though he felt as if it was still happening, the regeneration _was_ complete...

He turned his head and looked into the mirror. His new face looked back at him.

"_This is you now, Doctor,"_ he murmured, _"get used to it..."_

He glanced at the clock next to the bed and its ticking seemed too loud. He had stopped sweating and felt able to get up and walk without fearing he might collapse, but his new body still felt strange and he didn't know why.

He walked to the middle of the room and turned and looked back at the mirror.

"What am I missing?" he wondered aloud.

He studied his reflection and then shook his head; it was nothing he could see, nothing he could notice that seemed out of place – if anything, he felt happy with his new appearance – yet he still had the feeling something had gone wrong, event though he couldn't see it if he searched for it in his reflection...

He turned from the mirror and his own doubts as he recalled that he had never experienced an easy regeneration – each one had been difficult in its own way. But all the same, the feeling remained – _almost as if something was missing inside..._

* * *

As the Doctor put on a dark padded jacket and zipped it up, he cast a backwards glance down the hallway:

The light flickered from the TV; the open living room door threw out its glow in a reassuring way. He felt slightly guilty to be leaving without saying goodbye, but he guessed Janey was feeling tired after taking care of him and then worrying about him so much. Now he could imagine her exhausted, sleeping on the sofa.

As he thought about her lying there, with her eyes closed and her long black hair trailing over the soft arm of the chair, and he felt tempted to go in there and lean over her and kiss her goodbye. That was all, just a kiss and one so soft it would not wake her...

He shook his head.

"_Stop it you dirty old Time Lord!"_ he said in a hushed voice, _"Leave the girl alone..."_

And then as he crept carefully towards the front door, he thought again of Janey and gave a sigh turning back as he knew he couldn't bear to leave like this. He still didn't want to wake her; he just wanted to see her one last time before he went back to the Tardis and got out of her life forever...

As he went into the front room, he looked at Janey who was sleeping, not on the sofa but in an armchair. He stepped closer and studied her face, watched the rise and fall of her chest as she rested easily and then shifted his gaze above the low cut of her skimpy top. She looked so warm as the gas fire glowed and he glanced out the window at the harsh sky and thought how cold it would be to go out there alone and make the journey back to the Tardis. He had been through a lot and just to linger here a while longer would do no harm at all...

"No!" he muttered to himself, "Don't even _think_ about it!"

And he looked back down at Janey, thought how kind she had been, thought how pretty she was - and then felt a great deal of regret for what he was about to do. He had already come into her life and the memory of her would be enough; he had no wish to lengthen his stay and get to know her and grow feelings that were already beginning to stir. He knew a human companion would not last long on his travels, eventually she would tire of travelling and leave him, or worse - something would happen because space and time was full of lurking dangers. He had learned, he knew all this from bitter experience of love and loss over the centuries and yet...

He shook his head, knowing there was no point in trying to fight this, he wanted to kiss her, he _would_ kiss her – and he was determined not to wake her.

Then he would leave, keeping a fondness in his heart for Janey and she would be safe here on Earth while he got back in his Tardis and went on his way.

It was such a simple idea.

He leaned closer and took a deep breath.

"Goodbye, Janey," he whispered.

Then he leaned in, brushing her lips as he bumped into the table next to the armchair and the lamp clattered to the floor. Janey woke up with a start, giving a gasp as she looked into his startled eyes.

The Doctor smiled nervously.

"_Oh...Hello...I was just...I was...I..."_

She blinked, straightening up in the chair as he backed off.

"Did you just kiss me?"

She had a smile on her face but the Doctor just looked at her, knowing she would soon realise what was happening because it was warm in here and he had a snow coat on.

Janey got up.

"Why have you got a coat on?"

"I wanted to see if it was my size."

She gave a sigh.

"I told you not to go anywhere until you felt stronger!"

And then she realised something else and shot him a hurtful look.

"You were going to sneak off? Just put a coat on and leave and not wake he up to say goodbye?"

Guilt swept over him as he looked back at her and wondered why humans had such a way of making him get too fond too quickly; now he knew he needed to apologise.

"You don't understand – I have to get back to my Tardis and if you came with me I'd be exposing you to all kinds of danger and I don't want to do that. I'd rather leave you here, in your nice life, safe and –"

"What's the matter now?"

Janey stared at the Doctor, watching as he froze in mid-conversation and his eyes grew wide as a vision from a past life where he had witnessed something terrible flashed to mind:

_He drew in a sharp breath as he saw a gun go off and Janey slump against a wall, blood staining her skimpy white dress as her legs buckled and she slid to the floor, leaving a bloody stain glistening on the wall as the life drained out of her..._

Somewhere back in the past, in another life, he had been involved in Janey's life, enough to know that she would die...someone would shoot her, a man, someone who used to be close to her...

He struggled to remember and instantly felt cursed by his own birthright –he knew everything that ever was and ever would be...

Then he looked into her eyes and wished he could hold her again, keep her safe and warm and alive...

"You can't go anywhere yet," she was saying, "you're not well, you need to stay here -"

She was startled as he reached out and grabbed hold of her.

"_I can't let this happen!"_

She blinked, studied his face and hoped her words had finally got through to him.

"I know, that's what I was trying to tell you, Doctor – you're not well enough to go anywhere yet!"

He pulled her closer and hugged her. As he held her his eyes filled with tears as that certain feeling that the universe had just turned full circle and closed him up inside it confirmed everything:

_He couldn't let her die. _

He was fond of her, but there was more to it than feeling gratitude for the kindness of a stranger. He was going to feel much, much more for her and it covered him until he could barely breathe as he held on tight to her slender frame. As he let go, she stared at him.

"I know," he said, "it doesn't matter _what_ I know – just accept that I know and that changes a lot of things! I'll stay here tonight. But I must leave in the morning. I'm not sure what I'll do next. I need to think about it."

He let go of her and ran his fingers through his hair as he paced towards the door and then turned back to her.

"I will think of something," he promised her," but not tonight. I've spent most of the day resting and I'm still not recovered. I need more sleep."

She nodded thoughtfully as she wondered again if he was more than slightly insane.

As he walked out of the room and down the hallway, she walked beside him.

"I'm sorry if I'm not making sense," he told her as he took off the coat and hung it upon a hook on the wall, "I have so much going though my mind, I can't catch my own thoughts it's all moving too fast – can you understand that?"

She nodded again, and once more considered the fact that her handsome and strangely likeable man, who owned a flying blue box, might be insane.

"You need to go to bed," she reminded him.

As she opened the door of the spare room he walked inside and glanced back at her.

"Yes, you're right – we do!"

Then his eyes widened.

"I mean _I_ need to go to bed, to _sleep_..."

Janey started to smile.

"I think you could use some help."

"No, I'm fine, thank you."

As he said those words he sat down on the bed and glanced back at her.

"I'm fine, I'm going to sleep..."

She walked over to him and reached out, running her hand over his damp hair and sweeping it off his face.

"You're still burning up a bit."

"I feel cold again, I just want to get in bed."

"Do you need anything, a glass of water?"

He looked up at her.

"No."

As his blue eyes met with hazel, he thought again how pretty she was and it was a thought he couldn't push away.

"What about some warm milk?"

"No thanks, I don't want that either."

She looked at him with such kindness in her eyes.

"I'll say good night, then."

"Goodnight," the Doctor replied.

Janey leaned forward and their lips touched.

He wrapped his arms around her and drew her on to the bed as their kiss grew deeper, then and he ran his fingers through her long dark hair, wanting nothing more than to lie back on this soft bed, and to be in the arms of Janey Shelby, in this room, on a planet called Earth - because he needed to be safe and warm and in her arms, he felt sure he had found safety, at least for now.

* * *

When early morning sunlight broke through cloud and its weak winter rays broke golden through the nets that hung at the windows, the doctor woke up and gave a sigh as he smiled and enjoyed the warm, comfortable sensation of being naked beneath soft warm covers.

Then he opened his eyes, lazily at first – but they soon snapped wide open as he caught his breath on seeing Janey beside him; she was still fast asleep, she was on her back and breathing slowly and evenly and as he looked at her memories of last night flashed through his mind:

_Being hot and breathless in Janey's arms._

_Hearing her gasp and feeling her nails scrape his shoulders as he moved hard against her. She had wrapped her legs around his waist and he had taken her with a surprising amount of energy he didn't know he still had after going through such a rough regeneration._

_She had trembled in his arms and he had not thought of tenderness or gentleness as he had thrust deep, making her cry out as he lost himself in a moment of sheer bliss..._

And now, he felt guilty...

The Doctor turned on his side and watched Janey as she slept.

He ran his fingertips over a lock of her dark hair and wished he could kiss her again, but that would be too risky – last time he had done that, she had woken up...

Suddenly the comfortable bed felt like a trap from which there was little chance of escape as Janey turned over and slid her arm around his waist

He turned over but she shifted closer, murmured something as she kissed his shoulder, and then slipped back into a deep sleep.

"_Oh shit!"_ the Doctor whispered.

He looked down on the floor, at the tangled, messy heap of clothing...their night certainly had been passionate - and not what he would have wanted to do had he not been so vulnerable and in need of company after such a rough regeneration experience...

He carefully slipped free from her sleeping embrace and got up, taking care to shift his weight from the mattress carefully as he left her bed.

Then he grabbed shoes, jeans, t-shirt and as something lacy tangled in his fingers he realised he had also grabbed Janey's underwear. He tossed it aside with a flick of his hand and the lace knickers landed on top of the bedside lamp, half-draped over a white paper shade.

He looked back at the sleeping woman.

"Sorry!" he whispered, and backed out of the room.

The Doctor dressed quickly, then grabbed the coat that was hanging up in the hallway and put it on.

He turned to the door and quickly searched the coat pockets, remembering something was missing.

_"Where is it?"_ he said in a hushed voice as his eyes filled with panic, _"Where's the bloody key?"_

And he hurried through to the kitchen and quietly lifted his scorched clothing from where she had dumped it in the kitchen waste bin. He glanced over his shoulder and then searched the dirty clothing, finally smiling as he grabbed the chain with a key on the end of it and pulled it from his torn jacket.

"I won't get home with out this!" he said, holding up the Tardis key.

He put it in the pocket of his snow coat and quickly made for the front door, turning the lock, sliding back the bolt.

Then he was gone, hurrying up the path and out into the street, looking left and right as he wondered which turn would take him in the right direction to lead him back to his Tardis...

* * *

As Janey slowly opened her eyes, she smiled, planning to reach out and slide her hands over his warm body and pull him closer, inviting more kisses.

Then her smile faded as her eyes widened and she sat up sharply on seeing the empty space beside her.

"Doctor?" she said aloud.

Then she listened, heard no sounds of running water in the bathroom, nor of breakfast cooking in the kitchen. The flat was silent.

She got out of bed and glanced down the hallway:

His coat was missing.

_"Oh no!"_ she exclaimed, recalling how unstable he had been such a short time ago, _"What did you do it for, you idiot?"_

And then she dashed back into her bedroom and began to get dressed, hurrying as fast as she could while she frantically worried about the man who owned a flying blue box, who was not nearly well enough to go stumbling out into the cold morning in search of his strange Tardis that he thought of as home...

* * *

The Doctor had not been ready for _exactly_ how cold it was outside - under other circumstances he would have barely noticed the chilly conditions, but he was still newly regenerated, recovering from a regeneration that had been a rough experience and as he hurried along the street, the cold seemed to cut to the bone painfully as if his skin may as well have been made of paper and his thick coat non-existent.

He paused, waiting for the traffic lights to change as both lanes slowed down then he crossed the busy road and turned a corner and began to walk past a long parade of shops.

He wasn't far from the Tardis now; it would be a long, cold walk up Bramley Road, but he remembered the Tardis has crashed in the woodland just inside a place called Snakes lane, so he was almost there, he was cold, the sharp air hurt and cut through his newly regenerated body, if he thought about it too much he was sure he might collapse, or see old enemies in his head once more - but he tried not to think about it as he walked on briskly, passing shoppers who were bundled up against the cold as he headed for the long road that would lead him back to the Tardis.

_"Doctor!"_

He glanced over his shoulder and gave a weary sigh.

"Oh no!" he said aloud, turning his back as he continued to walk, this time moving as fast as his partially recovered body would allow.

But she ran after him, as he hurried on and then found the sharp, cold air hurt to breathe in and as he was forced to slow down, a hand grabbed at his coat and he turned around.

"_Wait for me!"_

She was standing there, slightly breathless in a padded white jacket that matched her boots. Her short woollen skirt looked thick, as did the dark tights that covered her slender legs, and although her face was flushed and her breath coming out in short bursts of icy cloud in the sharp air, she seemed barely affected by the cold and had handled the dash up the street far better than the Doctor, who was still struggling to recover from the difficult regeneration.

"You," he said breathlessly, "are _not_ coming with me! I have to do this on my own!"

Concern filled her hazel eyes as she watched him struggle to catch his breath.

"You shouldn't be out here in the cold, not yet."

"Once I get back to the Tardis I'll be fine - there's energy there, it can ..." he paused, shaking his head, "no... forget I said that, you wouldn't understand. Just go home, Janey – I'm sorry I left the way I did..."

He unzipped his coat despite the chill and placed his hand against the middle of his chest as he dragged in some air, "Janey, please... _go home_!"

But she still stood there with that concerned look in her eyes as she watched him breathing heavily with his hand against the left side of his chest.

"You need to come home with me, you're not right –"

"I'm fine!" the Doctor said, fighting to take in another breath as he pressed harder against his chest, "I just feel weakened...bit breathless, I wasn't ready to leave, true - but once I'm back in the Tardis you'll see a big change in me..."

He was still breathless.

"You don't need to worry," he promised her, "I'm finding the cold air a little...difficult to...breathe in... my hearts are beating harder than usual, but that's because I've just regenerated-"

He stopped.

A look of shock came to his face as the hand against the left side of his chest shifted to the right and he just stood there for a moment, and then as he shifted his hand left, then right again, he drew in a shaken breath and looked fearfully at Janey.

_"This is bad!"_ he said in a frightened voice, _"This...this happened before in my first life...it doesn't happen again until the last..."_

And now he wasn't gasping for air because he was breathless, he was shaken and tearful and he stifled a sob as he leaned against the doorway of a closed shop front, slid down it, put his head in his hands and started to sob.

"That last what?" Janey demanded, glancing left and right as she noticed shoppers were staring as they walked past.

He looked up at her and his face was streaked with tears.

"_My last life!"_ he sobbed_, "I have no more regenerations - I have one heart, one! I'm supposed to have two, what sort of a Time Lord am I now? I'll tell you what I am; I'm a Time lord with one of my hearts missing! I have no more lives left, this is it for me, this is the end!"_

And as he ranted on about his missing heart and his voice echoed around the street, alarming passing shoppers, Janey cringed a little and stepped closer to him, lowering her voice.

"Please get up Doctor – people are staring! And its embarrassing, too – you're going on about only having one heart as if you woke up this morning and found out one of your _balls_ were missing!"

_"Well there are certain parts of a Time Lord's body that are supposed to come in a pair, and hearts are one of them, Janey!"_

He was still tearful.

She held out her hand.

"Get up, _please_ - if you cause a scene someone might call the police. I don't know what you mean about two hearts. I thought people could only have one...I'm not even sure how much of all the stuff you go on about is real or in your head. But I _do_ know we can't stay here, and you have to get up off the pavement."

The Doctor wiped his eyes and took hold of her hand as he got back to his feet once more.

"I've got _one_ heart," he said again, "just one - that means it's come full circle. _There will be no lives after this one, this is my last...I don't know how to come to terms with that..._"

And tears blurred his eyes as he looked at her and silently wished she would say something that would take away his fears, but Janey had only just started to try to understand him and all she knew for sure was, they would accomplish nothing here on the street while he slowly became unravelled over an apparently missing second heart.

"Come on," she said gently, "let's go back to your Tardis. I'll come with you, maybe we can figure something out; try not to get upset, you're not alone - I'm here for you."

The Doctor nodded, feeling grateful now that Janey had decided to take it upon herself to follow him.

They turned and walked up the street, beginning a long walk that would eventually lead to the Tardis.

And as they walked, they kept their hands linked tightly, going on their way, now looking to the eyes of outsiders like any other couple out for a stroll on a cold winter's morning...


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Doctor, _slow down_!" Janey's voice echoed around the clearing as the Doctor hurried on ahead of her, fixing his gaze on the Police Box that stood in the middle of woods, surrounded by stark skeleton trees.

He stopped as he reached the Tardis, placing one hand on his chest as he caught his breath and nervously monitored the strange beat of the single heart within.

"I just want to get inside."

He took in a breath and let it out slowly, but still had a nervous look in his eyes as he kept his hand on his chest for a few more seconds, then he shook his head.

"I can't get used to this, it feels different. There's only one, I'm constantly reminded something is missing!"

Janey gave a weary sigh.

"Not _that_ again! I've had one heart all my life, there's nothing wrong with having one – and it seems to be working for you!"

The Doctor drew out the Tardis key and slid it into the lock.

"It feels so good to be home," he said, and he turned the key and went inside.

Janey stood there in the clearing, waiting for him to come out of the small box again, but he stayed inside.

"Doctor?" she called out, "What are you doing in there?"

He gave no reply.

Janey waited for a moment longer, and then the thought crossed her mind that perhaps he was feeling unwell again, so she pushed open the door and stepped inside the small blue box.

* * *

As the door closed behind her, she stood there and stared at the vast space she now found herself in.

She took in the height of the ceiling, the vastness of the room and wondered at the complexity of the controls at its heart; there was a large, round control centre that looked to be made of highly polished wood. The controls were many and varied and complicated, from numerical keypads to levers and even brass dials that looked Victorian by design. In the middle of this stood two white pillars that seemed to be made of crystal and although they stood dull, somewhere beneath them, light flickered.

The whole room was softly lit with a gentle glow, the softest shade of violet - and the place seemed to be quietly humming, as if, below the surface, the room itself was alive...

She looked back at the door.

Then as she thought about the small blue box and how vast it was inside, she gave a gasp that seemed to echo back at her, as she finally understood why the Doctor had said everything would make sense when he showed her the Tardis...

_"What is this place?"_ she whispered.

The Doctor stood beside the Tardis controls and looked at her.

"This is my home. It's also my ship."

She looked back at him, recalling everything, from the moment he had crawled out of the crash to the night they had shared together...now she understood everything and seeing it with her own eyes, was finally ready for the truth.

He didn't have to say it, because she knew.

"_You're an alien."_

"My home planet doesn't exist any more. It's been gone a long time. I'm from a place called Gallifrey, too far away for you to imagine it on any kind of star map you've ever seen before. I'm a wanderer, Janey. I travel through time and space in this ship, in my Tardis. I used to be physically different to humans – at least on the inside, but that's changed now. This is my final life. I'm out of regenerations and all my body can manage to create now is a human one. But I'm still a Time Lord; even having one heart can't take that away from me."

And although sadness shaded his tired eyes, he managed a smile.

"I'm sure I'll feel better very soon then you'll see what I'm really like - I just need a little more time. This won't take long now I'm back in the Tardis."

Janey nodded, still taking in the sight of what seemed impossible – the vastness of this room inside what seemed, on the outside, to be such a tiny box...

"Just stay where you are," the Doctor told her, "I'm going to link with the Tardis, that should put me back together. And then I'm going to get changed - thanks for lending me the clothes, but it's really not my style. I don't know what my style is yet, but I'm sure I'll know soon, _very _soon..."

And then he looked down at the console.

"I'm back, old girl," he said aloud," I know I've changed much more than you expected me to but it _is_ me, even if a part of me is missing."

And he placed his hands on the polished wood.

As he bowed his head and the controls lit up and the crystals rose and fell as if breathing light that seemed to sparkle about the room, it surrounded the Doctor as he took in a deep breath.

Janey's eyes widened as she watched him glowing in a golden shimmer of light.

Then the light faded and the Doctor took another deep breath, exhaling slowly.

"This won't take long," he told her, and turned from the console and left the room, heading off up a long, dimly lit corridor.

Janey stood alone in the vast room, watching as the light began to fade out, leaving the room glowing that same shade of violet once more. The Tardis was humming softly, as if to reassure her it was alive.

_Was it alive?_

She wondered where that thought had come from and knew that would be one of the many questions she wanted to ask the Doctor when he returned.

_The Doctor took his time._

_Janey waited._

* * *

As he walked into a wide, brightly lit room, the Doctor closed the door behind him.

Then he looked up, around, all the way around at the vast array of rails and hangers and shoe racks and tie racks and ...this walk in wardrobe was vast.

It was big enough to allow for a whole change of personality as well as height and weight. The Tardis seemed to know with each regeneration to provide him with exactly what he needed – but everything was so scattered, nothing was in any kind of order. He had the feeling he would have to search and then search some more to find exactly what he was looking for.

There was a large mirror set in the middle of the far wall and it ran from floor to ceiling.

He turned and looked into it, gesturing to his borrowed clothes.

"I know this isn't me," he said, "so who _am_ I?"

And then as the energy given by the Tardis settled into his bones, he started to smile.

"Thank you," he said softly, feeling glad the Tardis had listened and understood, "it's falling to place now..."

And he walked across the room and began to slide hangers out of the way, knowing exactly what he wanted to wear, because everything was coming back together now, and doing so very nicely indeed...

* * *

Janey had stood still for long enough.

She cautiously approached the Tardis controls and then took a closer look, taking in the sight of levers and lights and buttons as she wondered what purpose they served. Her gaze shifted up the tall crystal tower that sat in the middle of the controls. She thought about that golden light that had shone from within and covered the Doctor – he had simply walked away afterwards, but there had been something noticeably different about him as he had done so – he seemed stronger, more confident...

"How did you do that?" she wondered aloud, still getting the odd feeling that his ship was partly alive...how could that be, was it partly organic?

The only reply that came back to her was the low hum that reminded her a power filled this room.

Janey reached out and gently ran her fingertips over a lever. She wondered what would happen if she shifted it upwards, then she looked at a keypad of illuminated buttons and smiled, feeling like a child who had been told not to touch wet paint...the urge to dare to touch was overwhelming.

Her gaze fixed on the small array of glowing buttons. The unearthly shade they threw out against the violet lighting fascinated her and she slowly reached out, her finger hovering over the keypad as she thought about pressing a button just to find out what would happen.

The lights were still glowing and she was a fraction away from giving into temptation. She wondered what would happen - then she thought about the way the Tardis had landed so violently, perhaps there was a fault and the Doctor needed to fix it before it was safe to touch anything at all...

But her finger still hovered over that button.

"_Leave that alone, it's the oxygen controls for deep space flight."_

Janey drew her hand back sharply.

He walked out of the gloomy corridor and stood in shadow for a moment, looking thoughtfully around the gloomy interior.

"Turn the lights up, old girl!" he exclaimed, "I can't see a bloody thing in here – and make it bright but soft, I don't want a headache."

And the violet shade lifted, replaced by a bright but gentle glow that shone from dozens of spotlights dotted across the Tardis ceiling.

Janey looked up – but only for a moment.

As he walked towards her, she stared at the Doctor:

Whatever that energy from the Tardis had done to him, he had certainly changed for it. He stood there with every trace of his former weariness gone, and now he was wearing a black suit with a dark blue tie that was decorated with a diamond tie pin. His black leather shoes were polished to a high shine and he wore a long, unbuttoned black coat with velvet lapels.

"Like it?"

Janey smiled.

"You've certainly changed!" she said in surprise.

"For the better," he replied, sounding briefly distracted as he paced around the console. He hit buttons and threw levers and as the crystal centre of the controls rose and fell and briefly glowed, she looked at him with confusion in her eyes.

"What did you just do?"

"I just took us quickly and discreetly up into space," the Doctor replied," I was concerned about the Tardis being out in the woodland so close to the main road and I haven't fixed the chameleon circuit yet –"

"_Chameleon circuit?"_

"It's a device that can change the appearance of the Tardis; it can even make it invisible. It was damaged once before...took me centuries to get around to trying to fixing it! I'll have to get on to it pretty soon, it's a useful tool to have."

Janey thought about what he had just said, and then all thoughts about the chameleon circuit vanished instantly.

_"We're up in space?"_

"Of course we are!"

The doctor hit a switch and a panel slid back on the wall, revealing endless night punctured by too many stars to count. They sparkled and glowed in the vastness of space and Janey caught her breath as she saw Earth as a globe, slowly getting smaller as they shifted away.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" he remarked," I mean Earth, from up here. Space can be beautiful too, but it's not all sparkle and pretty colours, Janey."

As she turned to him, he looked into her eyes.

"The galaxy is a dangerous place," he said softly, "it's full of wonders but full of monsters too..."

As he held her in his gaze, he gently placed his hand on her cheek as he lowered his voice.

"_Remember when you were a little girl and your mother told you to keep away from strangers? Or that time when you first heard the story of the girl in the red hood who wandered off the path and met with a wolf? Space can be dark, things can hide in it, things that are there but unseen - just like the way you checked under your bed the first time you ever heard of the Big Bad Wolf, Janey –"_

She gave a gasp and stepped back as a chill ran through her.

"How do you know all this about me?"

"I know lots of things, probably too much," he replied thoughtfully, "but you need to be aware that travelling with me can be _very_ dangerous."

Janey slowly nodded.

Then he smiled and the darkness that had clouded his eyes lifted.

"I just wanted to warn you – I wanted you to be aware of the facts."

She took a glance out the window at endless space that stretched dark, punctured by stars.

"There must be good things out there too."

"Sometimes."

The Doctor sounded preoccupied again.

"What are you doing?" Janey asked him.

She glanced back a final time at the view of Earth moving so far away, and then went back over to the console to join him.

"I was just making sure I know my way around the control panel," he told her, "I'm feeling fine now but the Tardis has changed some what. I can't explain it; every time regenerate the Tardis alters too – but I always seem to know where everything is..."

And his hand hovered above the glowing array of buttons that had drawn her attention before. He cautiously moved his hand above the buttons, then placed his finger on the same one Janey had almost pressed.

"_I might push it."_

She stared at him. There was a manic gleam in his eyes now and as he looked back at her she wondered if she had been wrong about thinking he was over the shock of his regeneration...

"Doctor, don't do it!" she exclaimed, "You said that button controls the oxygen when we're in space... we are in space _now,_ have you forgotten?"

"I _know_ we're in space," he replied thoughtfully as he contemplated pushing the button, "and if I cut off the oxygen this room will become a vacuum."

He looked up at her but didn't move his hand away from the controls.

Fear reflected in her eyes as she tried not to think too much about the fact that she was up in space, far from home with a man who was quite possibly crazy, and _not_ in the harmless kind of way she had first thought...

"A vacuum?"

That manic gleam was still in his eyes.

"Yes a vacuum, Janey. Let me tell you what would happen if I emptied the oxygen from this ship: _Assuming you survived sudden decompression, you would suffer extreme cold and immediate frostbite. And you wouldn't be able to breathe but even if you'd managed to gasp a last lungful of air, holding your breath would be a big mistake because in a vacuum, gasses within the body start to rapidly expand... but you wouldn't have long to think about it, you'd have around ten seconds of conscious agony and then less than two minutes to live..._"

His words chilled her.

"Why are you telling me all this?" she whispered.

The Doctor shrugged.

"No reason...I just thought you might like to know what could happen if I did this –"

"_NO!"_

Janey's warning had come too late as the Doctor pushed the button.

Then there was a _click_ and the Doctor reached into a hole beneath the panel and lifted out a cup of hot tea.

He sipped it first and then handed it to her.

"I hope you take sugar," he remarked.

Her hand trembled as she held the plastic cup and tried not to spill it.

"You scared me half to death! What did you do that for?"

That manic gleam was gone from his eyes now and he spoke calmly as he leaned closer.

"It's just a hot beverage dispenser. But it _could_ have been something else. Moral of the story, Janey? _Don't_ touch what you don't understand – you might live to regret it."

And he kissed her cheek and pulled back sharply, turned back to the Tardis console and began to check the controls once more.

Janey stood there looking down at the cup in her hand while her legs still shook as she thought about the moment he had pressed that button.

"Drink up," the Doctor reminded her as he keyed in some coordinates, "your tea's getting cold..."

* * *

Janey kept quiet as she drank the tea and didn't dare to complain because it was sweet and she didn't take sugar.

She watched as he checked controls, familiarised himself with a console that had changed with his regeneration, he seemed to know where everything was - although she didn't want to ask him about functions any more, not after the way he had scared her over pushing that button...

"Where are we going?" she finally said.

He looked up from the controls.

"Going?"

"Yes, we're up in space, we must be going somewhere?"

The Doctor walked around the console and joined her and they stood together in the newly lit room bathed in soft light.

"I'm not taking you anywhere," he replied, "I just wanted to shift the Tardis out above Earth, take her for a spin and then land her again. This vessels been in a crash landing, I have to make sure everything still functions properly. So far I see no problems."

"Apart from the... what did you call it?"

"Chameleon circuit? Thanks for reminding me, I'll have a look at it right away."

He turned back to the base of the console and dropped to his knees, then took a long, thin silver device from his pocket and pressed a button. The tip unfolded and began to glow with a beam the resembled a powerful torch light.

"What's that?"

Janey took a few steps closer and watched as he opened up a panel.

"Its my sonic screwdriver," he replied,"a useful tool in many situations but I don't think can use it to fix this..."

And he leaned into the open space within and inspected the damage.

"It's never worked properly," he continued, "I've tried to fix it over the years but I've never had much luck with it. Sometimes the Tardis materialises and decides the best thing to be is a police box - and that's how she stays any way, so there's not much point in fixing something that won't get used, but I'd like to think I've finally done it."

He was still using the screwdriver as he shifted it closer to complicated wiring, but from where she stood Janey could see no more.

"Can I help?"

"_No."_

He shifted position, leaning in closer as he tried to work on the damage.

"The most I can do is seal off a cracked wire... I can't repair the thing, I can only limit the damage caused by the crash –"

There was a flash and a shower of sparks and the Doctor was thrown backwards from the open panel.

He landed on his back on the Tardis floor with the sonic screwdriver still in his hand as he muttered something under his breath and anger burned in his eyes.

Janey approached him cautiously.

"Shall I help you up?"

He sat up and turned off the screwdriver.

"No thank you I can get up by myself!"

And he got up and slipped the sonic device back into his pocket.

Janey was still thinking about the way he had landed hard on his back and then muttered something.

"Did you just say _bollocks_?" she asked him.

The doctor gave a weary sigh.

"Janey, if you had been travelling around in this blue box for as many centuries as I have, if you had been dealing with the same old problems for as many years, you would say the same - probably much worse. I can't fix the Chameleon circuit."

"Does it matter?"

He shrugged.

"I just wanted to get it working properly, it's something I've tried to do over the years and its never gone right - and now it looks as if it never will."

Then he fell silent as he placed his hand on his chest and checked on the odd sensation of one single heart beating on the left side of his chest.

"_I've got a lot to get used to." _

He walked over to the window and stood there watching the Earth grow smaller as the Tardis shifted further into space.

* * *

The Doctor stood deep in thought, alone by the window as he looked out into the darkness of space.

Eventually Janey went over and joined him, but his gaze was still fixed on the view as he considered the timelessness of it all.

"I'm centuries old," he remarked, "I always knew to travel the way I do would lead me into danger. I'd have to be a fool to think otherwise. But I'm a Time Lord, Janey. Each time I'm confronted with the worst, each time I meet my own demise I _know_ there's another lifetime waiting inside me to regenerate. _But not this time_."

And he finally turned from the window and looked into her eyes.

"Every regeneration has been painful. Each one a death in its own way, yet every time I knew there was another life waiting for me - and now that's gone. I could live for a thousand years, maybe longer in this body but then its the end._ Everything dies eventually, even old Time Lords. I felt immortal while I could still regenerate; now I have to accept that I live with a terminal condition known as mortality_."

She saw such pain in his eyes that she held back the urge to let her own amusement show over a remark that, to a human, made no sense at all.

"But Doctor, _everyone_ is mortal! No one goes on forever – even you! Okay, to be fair, you've had these other lives, more lives than the rest of us get – but even _you_ know it has to end one day, you know the time would eventually come. And it's not like you've got six months to live, you just said it yourself - you could go on for a thousand years or even longer!"

Deep pain was in his eyes.

"A lifetime isn't much to a Time Lord, not when I've known many more before this one. I'm the last of my kind and my race dies out with me."

Seeing such sorrow in his eyes took away her urge to laugh at how ridiculous it had all first sounded.

"So make the most of this life. You're like the rest of us now; you've only got one life, so enjoy it."

His gaze shifted back to the darkness of space.

"And how do I enjoy my last lifetime, Janey? I know everything I used to do is over now, I can't take risks, I can't follow my instinct and fight the evils in the galaxy. I can't risk my safety because there are no more chances for me – when this life ends, it _is_ the end. I was an adventurer, a wanderer. That's gone now, it has to stop or my life will be over a lot sooner than it needs to be."

The Doctor fought back tears as he spoke again:

_"I feel as if half my life has disappeared!"_

Then he gave a sob and she drew him into her arms, holding him gently as he leaned against her shoulder and quietly wept.

As she held him she could feel his sobbing and that crying showed no sign of easing up. She cast a nervous glance around the Tardis, wondering if it had been such a good idea, to take off in a space vessel with a very unstable Time Lord who had a lot to come to terms with...

"Doctor..."

He took in a shaken breath and answered her, his voice muffled as he stayed in her embrace with his head on her shoulder.

"What?"

"You need to pull yourself together."

"_I can't!"_

"You have to."

As she spoke she pulled back, ran her fingers through his hair and looked into his eyes.

"You say you're a Time Lord? Well I'd say that means you should be able to face up to anything. You must have seen a lot over the years."

The Doctor found her words comforting; she was right and he knew it – he had seen much over his many lifetimes, on thinking about it, far _too_ much when it came to pain and loss and battles that seemed constant against enemies, against the evil that liked to hide in dark places, the kind of monsters he had warned her about...

"_I sometimes wonder if the darkness that hides in this universe has got inside me."_

She cast him a wary glance, feeling unsure of what he meant. But then she caught the haunted look in his eyes and could only wonder at the lives he had led and all he had seen and done, of course far too much – perhaps his fragility was the result of more than just this being his last life, perhaps all the lives he had lived had taken their toll one way or another - and now he would always be this unstable wreck who stood before her with tears shining in his eyes...

"I don't think I can cope with knowing I can't regenerate!"

His voice was still choked with emotion.

"But you've got no choice, it's already happened - you can't change it, Doctor."

He blinked away his tears and thought about what she had just said.

"So how do you humans cope with it?"

"With what?" she asked.

"How do you cope with daily life, knowing can't regenerate?"

Suddenly she found herself smiling again.

"Because in our world that doesn't happen! We're born into the _only_ life we have and if we're lucky we get to make the most of it - for as long as we can. And when we die, that's it – game over. Humans don't get second chances, they die and its the end. But we don't think about the end, we think about living and we try and make our time happy, and that's what _you_ should be doing, do you get it now?"

"I think so."

She gave his shoulder a gentle rub and then let go of him.

"You've just got to make the most of it," she added.

For a moment silence fell between them and as they looked at each other the only sound to be heard was the quiet hum of the Tardis, as if to confirm it was functioning far better than the Doctor.

"This might sound like a strange question," Janey said, "but your Tardis – its almost as if it's alive. I know that's a silly thing to say, it _is_ silly, isn't it?"

The Doctor affectionately patted the polished console.

"She's got a heart full of energy, pure energy, the kind that brings life to the universe. Pure power. So no, it's _not_ a silly thing to say, Janey – it's an accurate statement. The light within the Tardis co-exists with my life force, when I die it shall also cease to function."

Then he felt troubled by the mention of his own mortality and he dismissed that thought with a wave of his hand.

"You're right, I should make the most of things. I want to forget about dying, why worry about something I can't change?"

And he managed a smile and the light returned to his eyes as all trace of sorrow vanished in an instant.

"Let me show you something, you'll _love_ this!"

And he reached into the pockets of his coat, searching quickly. He pulled out a small leather wallet and opened it, smiling at the blank paper within.

"This is very useful on my travels," he told her, "its psychic paper, I can show it to anyone and they'll see what they want to see – or what I choose to project."

"You mean you could use it like an ID and who ever saw it would believe it?"

"Exactly!"

The Doctor glanced at Janey and then back at the paper.

"I could suggest anything I wanted and plant it in here..."

He laughed softly as he held it out, displaying the paper like an identification badge.

"What does it say when you look at it?" he asked her.

Confusion clouded her eyes.

_"Show me your bra?"_

The Doctor laughed again.

"Sorry, I was fooling around. Let me try again."

He concentrated on the paper and then flashed it as an ID once more.

Janey read it. She shook her head.

"It still says the same thing."

_"What?"_

The Doctor flipped the wallet open and studied the paper.

"Oh no!" he said, "I'm so stupid! I forgot how strong my extra sensory perception can be right after regeneration – I've deeply impregnated the psychic paper with that stupid thought!"

And he shook the wallet vigorously but then gave up on the idea.

"What am I doing that for? I can't shake the thought out of it...that could take months to fade!"

"Or maybe its gone now, perhaps you're wrong," she offered hopefully.

He checked the paper.

"No it _still_ says show me your bra!"

She giggled as he snapped the wallet shut and shoved it back in his pocket.

"_Its not funny!"_ he snapped.

"It is!"

The Doctor looked at her sharply and she saw no trace of amusement in his eyes. Then she remembered how he had frightened her over the button she had begged him not to push and she recalled the manic look she had seen in his eyes - and she instantly stopped smiling.

"You just made a mistake, that's all."

"_How many more mistakes will I make in this weak body?"_

Now he sounded bitter and that darkness was back in his eyes.

He paced around the console and then leaned against it, looking across at Janey.

"Maybe I have a weak mind to go with it, did that thought occur to you? I don't recall being like this before - I'm up, I'm down, I'm trying to catch my own thoughts and half the time I can't grasp them... one minute I want to live forever and the next I feel as if I should prepare for death - I don't know _what's_ happening to me!"

Janey thought again about how far she was from home - not only that, but she was alone with an unstable man who was little more than a stranger and she felt a flicker of fear that she hoped didn't show as she spoke to him again:

"You've been through a lot, you're just confused, you have a lot to get used to -"

"_Get used to?"_ he fumed, _"I'm on my last regeneration! You don't seem to understand what that means, Janey!"_

He stopped, took a deep breath and tried to compose himself once more.

"I'm sorry, I'm all over the place, one minute I'm happy, and then I feel like I may as well blink and a thousand years have gone by and I feel like my time is up. I can't stop thinking about it."

She cautiously stepped forward and put her arms around him. This time his own arms stayed at his sides and he did not return the gesture. He heard her speaking kindly to him, he ached to hold her, to feel warmth and closeness from someone who he knew had every good intention – but instead he just stepped back from her embrace.

"It _will_ be all right," she promised him.

"I'd better take you home."

He sounded distant as he reached for the controls.

"No, I don't _want_ to go home yet!"

He looked up.

"After the way I've behaved? I would have thought you'd be counting down the minutes until we landed on earth so you could turn your back and walk away, pretend we never met. At least you have a life to go back to, a life you understand because it's the _only_ one you've ever had."

She gave a sigh.

"You _have_ to stop this."

As she leaned closer, he turned back from the controls and faced her.

"Stop what?" he said coldly.

His gaze was locked on hers and their lips a fraction apart, they were close enough to kiss or fight and by the look in Janey's eyes, she wasn't about to back off from either choice.

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself, Time Lord," she said, "you still have a life - so make the most of it. You didn't die in that crash, you walked away from it –"

_"Crawled from the wreckage!"_

"You walked away from it in a new body."

The hostility left him as he thought about how that new body had turned out.

"A _human_ body," he said quietly, "a fragile human body."

The ghost of a smile played on Janey's lips.

"A _very_ nicely put together human body..."

She reached up and ran her fingers through his hair again.

The Doctor briefly closed his eyes, enjoying the sensation, but then he met her gaze once more.

"Not so nicely put together, I only have one heart."

"Don't start all that again!"

The Doctor's eyes widened.

"But I'm a Time Lord, how can I only have _one_ heart? It makes me feel inadequate!"

Janey softly stroked his cheek.

"Really? I'll have to do something about that."

And she pulled him closer, giving him an unexpected kiss.

As she made a move to let go, he tightened his grip on her, crushing her to him and returning her kiss, pressing his body against her as her back hit the console.

As he broke off from that kiss, desire burned in his eyes and he smiled, it was as if his dark mood had suddenly lifted again.

"Thanks for reminding me why it's so good to be alive. You're right, we should make the most of now!"

She caught her breath as he placed his hands on her hips and lifted her to the console, pushing her legs apart as he moved closer and then kissed her again.

"No, Doctor – slow down!"

"All we have is now, life is short, you're so right!" he said breathlessly, pushing her down and leaning over her, gripping her shoulders as he smothered her with another kiss.

Janey gave in and slid her arms around him.

"Slow down, you maniac!" she laughed, barely able to catch her breath as she turned her head and fixed her gaze on endless stars as he kissed her throat and his hot breath against her flesh made her shiver with pleasure.

As she embraced him, the Doctor continued to kiss her, pressing his face against her hair as he felt glad to be alive and able to live in this moment of abandonment. His hands slid over her curves, over her clothing and he longed for more as he thought about the lovemaking they were about to share.

"This is really uncomfortable," Janey said, "there's a lever poking in my back!"

The Doctor kept her pinned to the console as he kissed her again.

"It doesn't have a major function, just let it poke you," he murmured as he ran his hand over her thigh.

Janey still had her head turned towards the view of space beyond the Tardis window.

"_Doctor..."_

His eyes were closed as he kissed her again, inhaling the scent of her skin, her hair, enjoying the warmth of her closeness.

"Let's just do it right here, Janey!" he said excitedly, "Believe it or not, in all my lifetimes, I've _never_ done it on the console before! I've never, _eve_r had sex on my own console; I just never met the right kind of girl who was up for that -"

"_No!"_ Janey gave a gasp, _"Get up, Doctor - get off me!"_

He heard terror in her voice and as he let go of her he caught fear in her eyes and as she took in a sharp breath she looked to the window.

"What _is_ that thing?" she whispered, sliding from the console and gripping at the sleeve of his coat tightly.

The Doctor stared out the window. Before, there had been nothing but a view of velvet-black space and stars that shone like diamonds.

Now something was shifting through that blackness, it was wide and long and the tail of it swished as if some monstrous fish swam through space. Its body sparkled and shimmered shades of fire and its mouth was open, yawning wide as it swam closer.

Even at a distance the thing was huge, making the Tardis look like a spot of plankton about to be swallowed by a whale shark...

Janey's fingers were turning white as she crushed them tighter into the arm of his coat.

"What _is _it?" she said again in a frightened voice.

The Doctor's eyes widened in shock as he took in the sight of the thing that swam towards the Tardis.

"_I don't know!"_ he said in alarm, _"But it's coming straight at us!"_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The fiery creature was so close now it filled the view from the window, blocking out the blackness of space and the stars within it.

Janey was still clinging to the Doctors coat.

"_Do something!"_

He stared at the creature, and then looked down at the console as his mind raced.

"Two things Janey: First – I'm going to speed us up and takes through a time vortex – we should come out the other side far away from this thing –"

And he made a move to reach the Tardis controls, and then looked back at Janey.

"And second – let go of my bloody coat, you're creasing it and I've only been wearing it five minutes!"

"Sorry!" she said, and let go of him.

He lunged at the control and hit a lever and pressed some buttons and there was a wheeze and a whoosh as the view of the fiery creature disappeared. The Tardis briefly lurched and Janey staggered and grabbed at the console, but then the ship righted itself and as she looked back at the window, all she saw was dark space – starless space, it was an endless world of night, nothing but a void...

"Where are we?"

"You're _very_ far from home," he told her, "I'm sorry about that, but I had no choice but to get us out of there fast - and that meant using the space-time controls to shift us into another dimension."

She glanced again at the starless space they drifted in, and then looked back at the Doctor.

"That thing was coming straight for us, so you got us out of the way?"

Something was stirring in the Doctors memory.

He leaned on the console as he blinked, wishing he could banish the flashbacks that came at him with violent clarity, recalling the pain of his last moments in his previous life, dying from the virus that had wiped out an entire planet...

He recalled leaning against the console then sliding to the floor and just as he collapsed, it had come at the Tardis – huge, like a wall of fire, smashing the blue box as if swatting a fly from its path. The impact had jarred his bones, sent the pain that was covering his body sinking down to bone and as the Tardis span out of control he had wondered how close he had been to Earth – close enough for the ship to right itself and take back the programmed flight plan?

_Perhaps she would land safely, perhaps not..._

_The world had faded out as pain took over and he felt his body being torn apart..._

The Doctor took in a sharp breath and looked up from the console.

"What's wrong with you now?" Janey sounded frightened, she had noticed he was visibly shaken and had broken out in a cold sweat.

The Doctor shook his head.

"Nothing," he told her as he straightened up and stepped back from the console, "I just remembered it – I was dying, I was about to regenerate and that thing we saw, it was out there then, it hit the Tardis, that's what made me crash the way I did, I was regenerating I wasn't able to take over the controls, I couldn't stop the crash from happening..."

Janey stared at him. Suddenly there was something on her mind that disturbed her far more than the thought that they were very far from home and deep in starless, distant space...

"That thing has been moving around the Milky Way? Near Earth, its been close to Earth all this time?"

His face paled as he nodded.

"This had to happen now, when I'm not in a position to do anything about it!" he complained.

"But you have to do something, you said to me you know all about the things that hide in space –"

"_I used to!"_ the Doctor yelled, _"What can I do now? What do think I should do, Janey? Get into a fight with the thing and use up my final life, get my useless fragile human body vaporised over yet another battle to save the Earth?"_

Janey stood there silent as that crazed look came back into his eyes.

"_I'm not bloody doing it!"_ he said, _"I've got one life now and I'm holding on to it!"_

"But that thing could be dangerous; can't you even try to find out what it is?"

He was breathing heavily as he ran his fingers though his hair and shook his head again.

"No, too dangerous... I can't take risks, Janey. My days of being fearless are over, I have no regenerations left, I've only got one heart – I'd be useless standing up to anything, I'm too weak, I'm useless –"

"_You're a Time Lord!"_

Her words pulled him back towards reason. He looked at her as he considered what she had just said and then he nodded.

"Yes, I am a Time Lord... but I don't have the body of a Time Lord. I can't risk the only life I have left to fight another battle, its not worth it."

"Not worth saving the Earth for?"

As he looked into her eyes he felt so much that he chose not to convey; guilt, sorrow, regret that he had to walk away from this situation...

He closed his eyes as he recalled lifetimes of battles with enemies - it had to come to an end one day, and that end was here now and he had to accept it before thoughts of his own demise drove him over the edge of sanity – he felt pretty close the edge now...

"Maybe when you're better, when you've recovered from the regeneration, you'll see things differently."

He opened his eyes and looked at Janey. She stood before him with every good intention, she wanted so desperately to put everything right for him, he was sure if she could, she would have taken all the pieces of his scattered memories and put them back together for him, but she couldn't do that any more than he could do it himself.

"You don't understand," he said quietly, "I _have _recovered now. The Tardis fed me enough energy to put me back together. This is as good as it gets for me – one heart, a human body and a mind that I suspect is far from perfect. I'm still up and down. Sometimes my thoughts race so fast I cant keep up and other times I want to curl up in a corner and give up on my last days and weep forever. I know that's not normal, I've never been like that before. But maybe this regeneration took so much effort that I managed a last lifetime, but with faults. It seems to make sense to me. I'm out of lives. This is how I end up. I don't even trust my own mind any more; I don't understand the way I think or feel! And this, Janey, is me regenerated and _exactly_ how I will stay – I've no choice in the matter."

Janey had listened, she saw calm resignation in his eyes now; she didn't want to think he was giving up but he was right, he was weak and fragile and no doubt having one heart instead of two only emphasised that fact to him. She didn't blame him for wanting to avoid danger; he had gone from being almost fire proof to becoming vulnerable and that was something he could do nothing about. She saw the sadness plain in his eyes as he considered the weight of his own sorrow at the knowledge that he was now mortal and had one life only, but as she thought of the monstrous fiery creature out in space, she thought of home, not just the Earth but her own home on her own street, and then she thought of her mother and her sister and brother...

"You can't turn your back and leave. You saw that thing - it could destroy the Earth! Please don't walk away."

He gave a weary sigh as he felt all his new found resolve to embrace self preservation start to crumble.

"I hit the creature – or it hit the Tardis – that's what made me crash land. There would have been some kind of trace left behind, an imprint of its energy or even its DNA – but all that would have been wiped clean when I took the Tardis through the vortex. The only way to try to figure out what that thing is made of is to skim past it, close enough to scrape against its surface without being pushed off course and without the Tardis crashing again. If I can isolate a tiny sample of whatever its made of, I could perhaps work out what kind of creature it is - if I can do that, I may be able to work out its intent."

Janey stared at him as he worked the Tardis controls, plotting their flight back through the vortex.

"Are you saying if you think its harmless you're just going to let it go?"

The Doctor looked up at her.

"Well I'm not planning on keeping the thing!" he said in surprise, "I realise its large and seems fearsome but just because its ugly, it doesn't mean its dangerous! It could be a harmless being floating through space, meaning no one malicious intent."

And he smiled hopefully but on seeing her stony expression, his smile faded.

"Yes, well...I am trying to look on the bright side, Janey. Not everything out there is dangerous, but going on first impressions and the way it forced the Tardis to crash land, I'd have to agree and say it looks like a threat is looming somewhere. But that _doesn't_ mean it's heading for Earth. It moves fast and if it was bound for your planet it would have got there by now. Its just circling the galaxy, like –"

"Like it's waiting for a signal?" she suggested.

Her words sent a chill down his spine as too many memories of other lifetimes and other battles long gone crowded his mind.

"I was going to say, like a _satellite_."

Janey shook her head.

"_No, it's circling like a bloody shark!"_

The Doctor threw a lever and the crystals glowed as they rose and fell and the machine groaned as it shifted dimension. This time the journey was smooth and as stars swirled past at breakneck speed, Janey felt no sharp jolt within the Tardis.

"I said I'd help," the Doctor sounded tense now, "I _didn't_ say I can solve this problem, but I won't walk away from it Janey. My plan is to wait here until it comes around again and take the Tardis past it, along the side of it and then scrape over its tail as we dematerialise to land back on Earth. That should solve the problem of the thing making us crash again – it can't hit us if we're not solid. Then I need some time to work on the tissue or whatever else the Tardis has picked up from running into the creature. That could take a couple of days."

And the galaxy stopped spinning and the view stretched out black and starlit once more.

All Janey could hear was the quiet hum of the Tardis and an impatient sigh from the Doctor as he turned back to the window and watched dark space that stretched before them.

"Well, here we are," he said as he fixed his gaze hard on the window, "Come on, you overgrown artificially created semi-sentient fireball, where the bloody hell are you?"

And Janey heard nothing as they floated closer Earth and stars twinkled against the blackness of space.

"Maybe it left," she said quietly.

He was still keeping his eyes fixed on the view beyond the window.

"No," he said darkly, "it's out there... who ever sent it here has programmed it to shift above the earth, away from your satellite technology so its off radar- then again, it could be invisible to radar, we don't know what it's made of yet. But it hasn't given up, it hasn't gone home."

And he turned his head and met her gaze.

"Its here for a reason," he told her, "and I have the feeling when we find out what that reason is, we wont be very happy about it at all..."

Then the Tardis shuddered, tilted and the Doctor grabbed at the console as Janey reached for him, clinging to his coat as the Tardis groaned as if in protest.

"_Shit shields!"_ the Doctor said, reaching for the controls.

But the Tardis lurched again and they tumbled to the floor as the room shimmered and shuddered and the groaning protest sounded deep from within the Tardis once more.

Janey picked her self up from the floor as the Doctor grabbed the edge of the console and got up, smoothing creases out of his jacket.

"Why did you say, _shit, shields_?" she asked.

The Doctor frantically worked controls and nothing happened as a look of panic grew in his eyes.

"I said, shit shields, because I'd lowered them so we could scrape a trace off the creature - shit shields because the shields are shit, too low to stop _this_!"

"Stop what?" As she spoke her heart was racing; the Doctor looked on the edge of a panic attack as he breathed sharp shallow breaths, looking from the controls to the view of space beyond the window – a view that was rapidly fading as the Tardis was being drawn backwards into shadow.

"Something's caught us and its dragging us in!" he said in alarm, "Oh _why _the fuck did I lower the shields so soon, I'm a fucking idiot!"

"And a potty mouth." Janey remarked.

"Blame it on my shit regeneration - and _don't_ crease my bloody coat again!" he snapped, frantically trying in vain to power up the shields.

Then the Tardis fell silent, as if to confirm his worst fears – the ship had no control any more...

* * *

As the Tardis was dragged deeper into darkness, the engine groaned a final time and then fell still.

Now the only view from the window showed a solid steel wall.

"What's happened to us? Where are we?"

Janey sounded afraid. The look in her eyes matched her fearful voice and as he looked at her, he wanted to hug her and apologise because space was a dark place and things liked to hide in it just as he had said – but it was too late for that now...

"Doctor?" she said again.

The Doctor was looking at the wall beyond the Tardis, the limited view of the steel riveted walls was familiar, its construction so familiar he also predicted the floors aboard this vessel would be metallic and smooth, because _they_ needed to glide along, the doors would be wide because...

_"Oh no!"_ said the Doctor as he closed his eyes, recalling the pepper pot on Janey's kitchen table and the terrifying illuminated eyestalk and the metallic voice that had screeched _EXTERMINATE!_

It was all making sense in a terrible way and as he opened his eyes he was tearful.

He looked at Janey and wished he had left her at home, safe on Earth.

"There's only one kind of species who create their ships in this design," he said in a shaken voice,"they've got us, I'm so sorry, Janey... they've got us now!"

"Who have?" she demanded.

He blinked away tears and tried not to think about the single heart within his chest that was pounding with fear at the very thought of his longstanding enemies.

"_The Daleks,"_ he replied, _"The Daleks have us, Janey..."_

* * *

There was no sound beyond the closed door of the Tardis, all was quiet as the Doctor and Janey stood together, waiting for the enemy to arrive.

"Why can't we just power up the shields and leave?" she asked him.

"Because they've used their controls to bring us in and render the Tardis useless! We can't leave unless I can break their hold on the ship and I can't see them letting me near their magnetic field system, it's locked down the Tardis flight controls. We're going nowhere."

Janey glanced towards the closed doors, feeling sure that once that door was unlocked her last sense of having any kind of safety in this situation would be gone.

"So what are we supposed to do, walk out there and surrender?"

The Doctor nodded.

"Something like that, yes. But I have a plan – its not much of a plan but I think it might buy us some time. That little problem of mine could turn out to be to our advantage..."

And without further explanation he took in a deep breath and walked towards the door.

Janey hurried after him.

"Wait!"

She caught his sleeve and he glanced down disapprovingly at the way she crushed the fabric as she grabbed at it, and Janey let go.

"Sorry," she said, "but you can't just walk out there and -"

"Yes I can, there's nothing else I can do. If I stay in here, they'll force their way in. Trust me, I think I can confuse them - and that has to be better than nothing."

Fear flickered in her hazel eyes.

The doctor flashed her a nervous smile.

"Stay behind me," he said quietly, "At least then if they shoot, _I'm_ hit first and not you..."

"That's no plan!" she complained, but the Doctor opened the Tardis door and stepped outside.

* * *

As the Doctor left the Tardis, Janey stayed close behind.

He looked around the wide room, metallic and devoid of all signs of humanity. He thought back to countless battles with the Daleks and his heart heavy:

_Was this where he would meet his final end? _

_Here, out in space, dying at the hands of his oldest enemies? _

He had barely had a chance to adjust to his final regeneration and he wasn't ready to die, and he was sure young Janey, a human and just as fragile as he was in his very human body, was not ready for death, either...

"Where are they?" Janey whispered. Then the Doctor felt her reach for his hand and he briefly gave her hand a squeeze before letting go again.

"Don't be afraid," he said quietly, "what ever happens next, I'm sorry I dragged you into this, but please don't be scared. I'll get us out of this situation if I can, you must believe that."

And then as Janey drew in a frightened breath, they came through the wide open doorway, three of them, gleaming, their shapes reminding him of the pepper pot on Janey's kitchen table - and his recollection of them now making him understand completely why that image had caused him such visions of terror...

The Daleks slid closer, moving silently on the polished floor, surrounding Janey and the Doctor as they stood outside the Tardis. As the Doctor looked back at them, saw their gleaming metal bodies and their glowing eyestalks, nothing was missing – every memory had slid back into place, too late now but he knew everything – this was a trap that would be difficult to get out of and not only that, but he had brought Janey along too, innocent Janey who was now in grave danger...

The light bounced off shining bodywork, the Dalek who stood central was blood red and flanked by two silver guards. All eye stalks were glowing and the middle Dalek shifted forward, its round head turning slightly, left then right as it scanned the Doctor and then Janey.

"_Identify yourselves!"_ it demanded, and Janey gave a gasp as the shrill metallic voice filed the room.

The Doctor glanced at Janey.

"Stay back, let me deal with this," he whispered, and then turned back to the Dalek who was in command.

"I'd say it's obvious who I am, my Tardis is behind me."

And the Dalek powered up its weaponry. The Doctors eyes widened as he saw the weapon began to glow, it was not set to kill but would certainly cause severe pain and bruising... and the Dalek shifted closer, the Doctor stepped back and the Dalek moved again.

"_Halt!"_ it commanded, _"Or I will exterminate you!"_

He cautiously raised his hands in the air as he began to break out in a sweat.

"Not on that setting you won't - that's a setting designed to stun or at least cause pain and soft tissue damage –"

"_Answer the question!"_ the Dalek screeched, _"Identify yourselves!" _

The Doctor kept his hands raised.

"I...I told you," he stammered, "I'm the Doctor! I just stepped out of my Tardis, why don't you believe me?"

The Dalek spoke up again.

"_The Doctor is a Time Lord. He has two hearts. You have one heart, you are human and so is the female! Where is the Doctor?"_

Janey had watched the scene unfold feeling hopeless; if this was his idea of buying time it seemed the Daleks had little patience for it...

"They wont listen," she whispered.

The Doctor lowered his hands and glared at the Dalek in command.

"I AM the Doctor!" he said angrily, "You should know me, one heart or two, one life or another – _Hello, its me again, look closer.._."

And he shoved his face up close to the eyestalk.

"I've regenerated," he informed it darkly.

"Doctor!" Janey said in alarm, "_Don't_ make it angry!"

"SILENCE!" the Dalek said sharply, then turned its eyestalk back to the human male who stood before it with a manic gleam in his eyes as he angrily repeated himself once more.

"_I am the Doctor."_

The Dalek raised its weaponry again and the Doctor stepped back but none of the anger and defiance had left his eyes.

"I've taken you on more times than I can count. You've lost every single time and you _will_ lose again. You're nothing but empty-minded drones stalking their way throughout the galaxy!"

And the Doctor began to gesture as he spoke.

"Exterminate this, exterminate that!" he said, waving his hands left and right, "It's all you're good for, your stupid plans for the domination of planets , you're just pathetic scraps of life locked up in pepper pots and armed with guns, and you think you can march through space and take anything and everything you choose – well you're wrong because you _always_ lose!"

The Doctor was breathless now.

"_ALWAYS!"_ he yelled, _"You're doomed to destruction, you're nothing but mindless killing machines and if you think I'm going to quietly let you kill me you can think again, because I'm not taking that from you or anyone, I'm a Time Lord, I'm –"_

Janey screamed as a bolt shot from the Daleks gun stick, hitting the Doctor in his side. The blow instantly cut off his words and made him cry out as he sank to his knees and then slumped to the floor.

The Doctor heard Janey call his name and then the Dalek screeched at her to be silent. He was still on the cold polished floor, looking sideways up at the Daleks that surrounded him, unable to move as pain throbbed in his side from the weapon's discharge.

And then the two guarding Daleks flanking their leader shifted aside, as did the commanding Dalek as they were joined by another:

This Daleks casing gleamed polished metallic black, dark as space, and as he pulled himself upright and blinked and pain throbbed through his body, he realised this one was different – there was no eyestalk, only a small round viewing screen...

Echoes of the past carried back from another life and he felt weak and cold with fear and it was nothing to do with the shot from the gun stick...

"_No..."_ he whispered, grabbing for Janey's hand as he staggered to his feet.

He stared at the strange Dalek and once again that awful cold feeling shuddered through him if he may as well have been looking at a ghost...it couldn't be...

The top of the Daleks body began to divide, the metal folding apart and sliding down out of sight. The Doctor's face was pale as he grabbed Janey and shoved her behind him, she gripped at his hand but he pulled it free of her grasp as he stood facing a very old enemy.

He heard Janey give a gasp and then she put her hand to her mouth, staring in horror as she stepped back towards the Tardis.

"What is it?"

Her eyes were wide with terror.

"I'll deal with this," the Doctor said quietly.

Then he looked back at the half-man, half-Dalek that sat before him, half-corpse seemed more appropriate as he took in his appearance:

His features were shrivelled and his eyeless sockets screwed shut. His mouth was blackened and he raised a single, half robotic arm and pushed a button, shifting his half-Dalek shell closer.

"Doctor?" he said in a dry, cracked voice, "How can this be?"

The Doctor stood up straight, pain briefly registering on his face as the wound in his side throbbed. He looked into the glowing Cyclops eye above blind human sockets and addressed the Dalek leader:

"I thought I saw the last of you when the Crucible was destroyed. How did you get out of that one, Davros?"

The Dalek leader paused, then he spoke again and his half-metallic voice was edged with bitterness.

"The Doctor is the destroyer of worlds; do not attempt to save your life by this pathetic show of bravado! _You are not the Doctor!_"

On hearing this the Doctor stepped closer, looking at Davros with an unwavering glare.

"_Destroyer of worlds?_ That's not a new one! Don't you have any new insults for me? Come on, try harder! Or did you run out of ideas around the time you lost the Crucible? Were you in too much of a hurry to abandon ship that you couldn't save a few of your fellow Daleks to help you out? How predictable of you! What have you been doing all this time, floating around in some pocket of time making new ones, building up another little army of pepper pots?"

"_Where is the Doctor?" _Davros demanded.

The Doctor stood his ground, all fear gone now as he recalled the many wars fought with this enemy who he had long believed to be dead.

"I _am_ the Doctor, you rotting piece of space junk! And I am _not _a destroyer of worlds; your own insane desire for total domination saw your own kind wipe themselves out through their own actions! You will _never _own planets, rape galaxies, destroy or enslave -"

"_Doctor!"_

Janey had spoken in a frightened voice and he briefly turned to her.

"Don't rant again," she warned him, "I don't want you to get shot a second time!"

The Doctor looked back at Davros.

"We've been here before," he told him, "and here we are again. I'm the Doctor, you are Davros. Get ready to lose, and lose very badly!"

Davros shook with rage as turned to one of the Dalek guards who flanked him.

"Take the girl to a holding cell and take this human pretender for interrogation!" he barked, "I have no patience for his meaningless conversation!"

As one of the Daleks shoved Janey she staggered backwards, then it shoved her again and her last view of the Doctor was over her shoulder, as he stood his ground, his gaze locked with Davros as the Dalek leader's eye piece glowed angrily, matching the glitter in the Time Lord's eyes as the light bounced off his diamond tie pin, it caught harshly on the white light that filled the hollow room. Janey called his name but as she was shoved along the corridor, her view of him was lost and all she could do was keep the memory in her head of a brave man who seemed determined to stand his ground and fight his way out, or die trying...

* * *

As Janey was taken from the room, the Doctor spoke up once more.

"You got me while the shields were low," he said, "I guess I shouldn't have left the Tardis unguarded like that when I knew a threat was present. But I didn't know it was coming from you. And you won't win this one; you have no advantage over me."

And Davros extended a metallic, sharpened finger and pressed a button, a dart shot out from a hole in the shell casing, the needle hit the Doctor with force, penetrating his shirt through his open coat and as he fought for breath he sank to the floor.

The room blurred and began to fade as Davros shifted closer and watched as a crimson stain began to spread through the fabric of his shirt.

The Doctor took in a couple of shallow breaths.

"I wasn't expecting a tranquilliser dart..." he murmured, "That was a dirty trick, that was really -"

And his eyes rolled over white and he lost consciousness.

Davros turned to the Dalek beside him who stood guard.

"Take him to interrogation," he ordered,"We must extract the truth from him. I need to know where the _real_ Doctor is!"

* * *

Janey sat alone in a cell that was windowless.

It was simply four walls and the ceiling matched the polished floor. She had lost track of time after sinking to the cold floor and weeping as she thought of the Doctor and wondered what had happened to him. She thought of the machines that held them captive and wondered how they had ever got into this situation. Then she had recalled his warning, that space was dark and things liked to hide in it...

_Those things that liked to hide had certainly made their presence known._

She gave another sob and then stood up, looking around at the four walls, trying to find the smallest chance of escape but there was none – this room was sealed and the door could only be opened from the outside...

And then the door opened sharply, sliding back as Davros entered the room.

She caught sight of Dalek guards in the corridor behind him then the door sealed once more and she backed up against the wall, hazel eyes filled with fear as the ugly half-man encased in a Dalek body glided towards her.

"Your companion is being prepared for interrogation," he informed her, "Dalek technology is very effective at using pain to maximum effect. You could spare him suffering by telling the truth. Where is the Doctor?"

He shifted closer, the Dalek shell that encased his lower body now pinned her against the steel wall.

"He told you, he _is_ the Doctor!"

Davros extended his metallic arm and spiky metal fingers reached out, scraping cold against her cheek. She turned her head and gave a frightened gasp and Davros began to smile.

"Your flesh is sweet to the touch," he remarked, "I would very much like to enjoy more rememberance of my days of flesh by enjoying the feel of yours. And I will, after I have extracted the truth from your companion and had him exterminated. But I do not have the same fate for you, human female."

She trembled as she looked at the hideous, eyeless creature as its blackened mouth moved and the electronic voice continued to speak as the artificial cyclops eye glowed, fixed upon her:

"It has been many centuries since I have enjoyed the feel of human flesh. While I am half-Dalek I also wish to preserve my human remains. And your flesh is so young, so very _wearable_..."

She gave a cry of shock as she stared at the creature encased in the Dalek shell.

"Please let me go!" she sobbed.

Davros drew his hand back from her cheek, sliding his hand down her long dark hair. Suddenly metallic fingers tangled in it and jerked her roughly towards him as she gave a cry of alarm.

His face was a fraction from hers, his breath cold and stale as she sobbed in fear.

"_I will torture and kill your friend. Then I will skin you for your flesh!"_

And he extended two fingers, revealing sharpened blades. As he hacked through a lock of her hear, she pulled free from his grip.

As she looked back at him with frightened eyes, Davros raised the severed lock of hair and inhaled deeply, before fixing his single eye upon her once more.

"You smell of youth and life," he told her,"exactly what I need. And when the parasite has finished scavenging Earth we shall use our time-space device cannibalised from the Doctor's Tardis to return to your planet and wipe out the remaining population!"

Janey shivered as she looked at Davros.

"Parasite?" she asked him, but the Dalek leader's tone softened a little as he spoke again:

"Your Doctor friend is not the man you think he is. He is responsible for the destruction of much of the Dalek race! You would defend a man who has committed such a monstrous act?"

Janey's eyes clouded with confusion.

"No, you just said you want to wipe out Earth! You want to kill me too, and the Doctor!"

"Where _is _the Doctor?" Davros demanded impatiently.

"_You already have him!"_ she yelled.

Davros looked back at her thoughtfully.

"He can not be the Time Lord. He has one heart - he is human. This leads me to believe that you and your companion are shielding the real Time Lord. I may be persuaded to spare your lives if you cooperate."

Janey looked back at the half-human, half-Dalek and shook her head, recalling the Doctor's plan to use his human form to confuse the enemy – this wasn't turning out well and she didn't want to make matters worse by saying anything at all.

"He told you who he is," she repeated,"I have _nothing_ more to say!"

Davros pressed a switch and his Dalek casing turned towards the door and the door slid back.

"You will come with me," he told her, "Perhaps you will be willing to talk after you watch your companion suffer torture!"

Janey took in a sharp breath as she thought of the Doctor, but said nothing as she followed Davros from the cell and then flanked by Dalek guards, was led down a corridor towards the interrogation room.

* * *

As Janey walked along the metallic corridor, she shivered and blinked back tears.

They were getting closer to a sealed metal doorway and every step became heavier, as if the floor beneath her feet was melting. She briefly closed her eyes, recalling the kiss of her lover, remembering his warmth, his closeness, the night they had shared together. As she recalled these things her heart was breaking, because the Doctor was behind that sealed door and all she could hear was screaming.

Janey fixed her gaze on the sealed door as her vision blurred with tears:

_He screamed again, the man she loved was screaming and there was nothing she could do to save him..._


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

As the door slid back Janey's eyes were blinded by tears and she looked down at the floor, aware that Davros had shoved her forward, she took two more steps into the room and blinked to clear her vision.

"Please don't hurt him," she whispered, but the Daleks who monitored controls kept their backs to her and as Davros spoke up she closed her eyes, hearing the Doctor give a cry of pain and not want to witness his torture.

"I do not think your friend can take much more of this torment considering he has such a fragile human body," Davros advised her, "it would be better if you spared him agony and spoke the truth. Where is the Doctor? Tell me now or I will force you to watch your companion die!"

As his voice cut sharply, Janey kept her eyes closed.

"_Look at him,"_ Davros said darkly, _"witness his suffering and then tell me, shall I continue to cause him pain? You can end this with the truth. Just tell me where the Doctor is."_

Janey could hear the Doctor taking in shallow breaths.

"Please," he said as he fought for air, "stop this..."

And Janey wasn't sure if he was talking to her or to Davros, but all she knew for certain was that he was in pain and was begging for it to stop.

She opened her eyes and slowly looked up.

The Doctor was strapped to a table and his coat was open, as was his bloodstained shirt. Thick needles had been shoved into his chest, the puncture wounds covered his upper body and blood leaked out, running down steel needles and on to wires. He was shaking and he screamed again as he was shocked once more, then he fell silent, breathing hard as sweat ran from his face. His skin was pale and shone with sweat and he was trembling as he looked at Janey.

"Make them stop!" he begged weakly.

His chest was starting to bruise deeply around the bloody needle marks, he had eight of those wounds and a large bruise just above his hip where he had another deep puncture wound. Every one of those wounds leaked blood.

"He will not be able to withstand much more of this pain," Davros told her, "but _you_ can release him from it... Tell me the truth, _where_ is the Doctor?"

Tears ran from Janey's eyes as she turned to Davros.

"You're right," she said quietly, "he's not the Doctor. The Doctors dead. The Tardis crashed on Earth and he didn't survive. We were travelling with him – now _please_ let my friend go!"

The Doctor stared in horror at Janey.

_"No, don't tell him that! He'll kill us!"_

Davros shifted closer to the table and a long needle extended from his index finger.

The Doctor shut his eyes as he dragged in a breath.

"What are you doing?" Janey demanded.

"Giving your friend something to put him out of his misery," Davros replied as the needle inched closer to the side of the Doctor's neck.

"It's not your fault," the Doctor said, "just get out of here, Janey... please, Davros...get her out. "

And Davros smiled as his cyclops eye fixed on the Doctor.

"I wouldn't want her to miss your demise," he replied, "this needle is filled with cyanide."

Janey stood there for a moment as she watched the hollow tip of the needle shift closer, about to scratch the surface of the Doctor's skin.

He weakly looked up at Janey.

"Save yourself," he whispered.

And Janey lunged at Davros, grabbing at his human back as she spun his half-Dalek shell around and gave him a shove.

_"Kill her!"_ Davros screamed, and the two Daleks operating the interrogation equipment turned from their posts, gun sticks raised.

"The eye piece!" the Doctor told her, "It's their weak spot – blind them!"

"EXTERMINATE!" cried one of the Daleks, and fired a shot as Janey ducked and rolled and snatched a jar of liquid from a nearby table. She glanced at the triangle and the cross that ran through it and guessed it had to be hazardous, hoped that it was and hurled it at the eye piece of the Dalek who had fired the shot.

The liquid covered the eyestalk and the lens began to fizz and melt.

The Dalek turned left and right sharply.

_"My vision is impaired!"_ it screeched, _"I cannot see, my vision is impaired!"_

Janey lunged at the wounded Dalek as it raised a powered up gun stick, there was a blast from the weapon as she turned the Dalek and the shot hit its companion, blowing a hole in the shell casing and exposing the remains of a small green multi limbed creature within.

Then she snatched up another jar of acid and fixed her gaze on Davros.

_"You'll need some new skin by the time I've finished with you, fucker!"_

"NO!" The Doctor cried as he struggled against his bonds, "Hit the alarm - lock us down!"

Janey ran to the door and hit a flashing button. As an alarm sounded, the light glowed red and the lock snapped into place.

Davros watched from the corner of the room, knowing hews locked in with two dead Daleks and with t he ship on shut down, there was no hope of releasing the door from the inside... He slowly extended a finger and hit a button.

As a hole opened up in the shell casing the Doctor yelled to Janey.

"Run!"

Her eyes widened as she saw the point of the dart emerge from the casing. It flew sharply, she flung herself aside and the dart hit the floor, the contents within the vial attached to it unbroken.

She stood up and carefully picked up the dart.

"Yours, I believe?" she said to Davros, and raised it up high, bringing it down with force into his shoulder. He cried out and then she watched as he slumped against the Dalek casing, still as death now.

* * *

The alarm was still screaming as she turned back to the Doctor.

"Did I kill him?" she asked.

"No, its a tranquilliser. Untie me - we need to get out of here!"

Janey began to unfasten the straps that bound him to the table.

"How do we get away?" she wondered, her face was pale and her hands were shaking as she released the last of the straps.

The Doctor looked down at his chest.

"Get these needles out of me –don't worry about hurting me, just do it...there's a maintenance shaft over there on the wall, I can open it with the sonic screwdriver and –"

He gave a cry of pain as she pulled out the first of several bloodied needles.

"Sorry!" she said as she blinked back tears, "I don't want this to hurt you but –"

"_Just get those things out of me!"_

Janey reached forward and pulled out each needle, trying to block out his pain as she freed him from the Dalek torture device.

He felt weak and pain registered on his face as she helped him to sit up.

Then he stiffly pulled his shirt closed and did the same with his coat.

"Where is it?" he wondered, reaching up to the tie that was still caught beneath the back of his shirt collar.

"What are you looking for?"

The Doctor gave a relieved sigh as he retrieved his diamond tie pin.

"I'm glad it's safe – it's a nice tie pin!" he remarked, and slipped it into the inside pocket of his coat.

Then he stood up and his chest throbbed and he doubled over, clutching at his sides as he dragged in a breath.

"Bastards!" he said as he thought of the Daleks, "This bloody hurts!"

She reached out to help him, but the Doctor slowly straightened up as sweat ran from his face once more.

"Lets get that grill open," he told her, taking the sonic screwdriver from his pocket.

* * *

The Doctor worked fast, his hand shook as he used the sonic device to open up the grill. He was clearly weakened and still in pain and as Janey shifted the grill aside, the Doctor crawled into the shaft and paused to take several deep breaths as the wounds on his chest throbbed.

"We've locked the ship down on emergency," he said breathlessly as he shifted along and Janey followed, "that means all power will be diverted to essentials – locking down exits, maintaining whatever life support the Daleks require- and diverting the flow of energy away from the shut down on the Tardis. The internal shields should be switched off now, which means –"

"We can power up the Tardis and get out of here?"

The Doctor had been crawling along trying to black out the pain that throbbed in his chest. He paused, took a couple of deep breaths and smiled.

"You're getting good at this," he told her, "you're absolutely right – as long as we get back to the Tardis before they cancel the lockdown, we can get back to the Tardis and get away from here."

And they turned a corner, and then the Doctor paused, looking through another grill at the room beyond:

Here Daleks worked at controls and in the middle of the room was a swirling orange globe, the fire that shifted within it seemed almost living, reminding him of the kind of material the strange creature was made of, the one that had tried to swallow them...

"That looks familiar," he said, looking through the grille at the form that shifted within the sphere, "that mass of energy that hit my Tardis is being controlled by Daleks?"

"Davros said something to me about a parasite – is that what it is?"

The Doctor's gaze was still fixed on the sphere.

"I don't know what it is, but if it's created by Dalek technology it definitely _is_ bad news," he told her, "I won't know until I get a sample of its tissue. But we don't have time for this now and I'm in no shape to take on any more Daleks today, let's go. If we keep going down here we should arrive somewhere near the holding bay..."

And he began to crawl up the shaft once more, pausing for a breath and fighting pain as Janey caught up with him, and then they continued on, towards another grill at the end of the crawl space.

Janey watched silently as the Doctor waited, then watched as Dalek guards glided past and left the holding bay. Then the door was sealed shut. The alarm was still sounding and he worked quickly with the sonic screwdriver to open up the grille. Then the doctor gave it a shove and it clattered to the metal floor.

"I thought you said we had to be quiet!" Janey reminded him as she looked out fearfully, expecting the Daleks to return.

"They won't linger around here," the Doctor told her as he crawled out of the shaft, "they're too busy checking for an emergency – and their leader is sealed in the interrogation room, they'll work to free him before they do anything else."

And he braced himself for the pain, and then he got up, pausing to clutch at his wounded chest.

"I don't feel too good," he said, "I need to get us back to Earth while I can still stand up..."

And Janey's eyes clouded with concern as she noticed how pale he looked, the Daleks had tortured him with pain as a weapon, it had not wounded him seriously, but had certainly done enough damage to keep him in pain for a while, and he looked drained by the experience.

As he reached the Tardis door he opened it and looked at Janey.

"Don't worry about me," he said, "I'll get us home."

And Janey followed him inside, and then took a deep breath as the door closed securely behind them and the familiar hum of the Tardis filled the air.

The Doctor wasted no time powering up the shields and then he put in co ordinates for landing.

"Where are we going?" she asked him.

He smiled at Janey as he leaned on the console, he was still sweating as pain ran through his body but he knew they were on their way to freedom now.

"If I've worked it out right," he told her, "we should land at your place..._I think_..."

And then he threw a lever and the crystals rose and fell as the Tardis gave a groan and with a burst of power, vanished from the Dalek ship.

* * *

_The stars rushed and tumbled by._

Inside the Tardis the journey was smooth and as they sped on their way, Janey knew no Dalek ship would follow.

"We made it," the Doctor said, and as he managed a smile she noticed the way he kept a hand pressed to his chest, holding his blood stained shirt together.

"Is it very bad?" she asked him.

The Doctor briefly nodded.

"It hurts like hell," he admitted, "but it could have been much worse. I'll live."

And then he looked at the screen, watching the monitor with interest.

"This is an opportunity I can't afford to miss!" he said at once.

Then he pushed aside the pain that made him ache down to his bones as he began to steer the Tardis on a detour from the planned path.

Janey clung to the console as she stared at the approaching mass on the screen; it glowed like fire and although it was heading away from the Tardis, the Tardis was gaining on it rapidly...

"Don't do it!" she said nervously, "Remember what happened last time? You crashed, it knocked you off your flight path!"

"Not this time," the Doctor replied, and he watched the screen, threw a switch and the Tardis headed for the body of the creature, as the ship came up against its fiery body Janey heard the whoosh of the Tardis controls powering up, and the view of space faded, replaced as the ship fell silent by a view that was very welcome indeed.

"My back garden?" she exclaimed, feeling sure she had never been so glad to see the sight of the garden so cold and dead in the middle of winter before.

"Yes, I got you home," he told her,"and now I need to go and lie down. I can't work on the trace left by the creature today, I'm too exhausted."

As he opened the door of the Tardis he paused, putting his hand to his chest once more.

"I need to rest," he said quietly and then he stumbled.

Janey put her arm around him and helped him towards the door, hoping he would make it back into the flat – he looked just about ready to pass out...

* * *

As she closed the door behind her, Janey breathed a sigh - this was Earth, she was back home at last, safe from space and the things that liked to hide in its darkness...

But the Doctor felt heavy as he leaned against her.

"This bloody hurts!" he said as he took in a sharp breath, "They used electrified needles that sink deep into tissue and the signal sent pain throughout my body – through every connecting pathway. Think of it as a twisted form of acupuncture developed by a sadist!"

Janey opened the bedroom door and as he staggered towards the bed his legs buckled and she helped him to sit down. He sat heavily and looked up at her.

"I feel like death!"

"Don't say that," Janey replied quietly as she recalled how weak he had been following the regeneration, "you're strong, you've survived a lot – the crash, what the Daleks did to you – I mean it, you're strong, Doctor."

He gave a weary sigh as she helped him take off his coat.

"I can manage," he told her, reminding her sharply of how determined he had been to cope alone when they had first met.

"Not this time," she replied softly,"you need my help, just this once, you can't do anything now, you're in a mess."

And she sat beside him and carefully began to unbutton his blood stained shirt.

He felt more pain and moved stiffly as she helped him undress.

"That's true," he replied, "I feel like I could spend the next hundred years sleeping..."

Then a look of panic grew in his eyes as he thought again about his own mortality.

"I couldn't do that, I couldn't sleep for a century - that's a hundred years I'll lose, I can't afford to lose time, it's precious - I don't have any regenerations left –"

Janey silenced him as she gently eased him back against the pillow.

"Just calm down, I _know _it was scary up there-I was scared, I never want to do that again- but you're safe now. The danger is far away."

Janey unbuckled his belt and began to undress the lower half of his body he gave a sigh, feeling mildly surprised that despite his pain, the accidental brush of her hand against his body was vaguely arousing, even though every wound in his chest throbbed and all he wanted to do was sleep to escape the pain.

"You've got a nice touch."

As he spoke he managed a smile.

Janey draped the covers up to his shoulders and stepped back from the bed.

"I should find something to clean you up with – you'll need something on those wounds."

"Don't you dare!" he said sharply, "Don't even _think _about touching me, I'm in bloody agony!"

Janey nodded.

"Okay," she said gently, hoping her calm voice would ease his mood, "I know it's hurting. I'm just thinking, those needles went in deep and you could get an infection _"

_"I'm a Time Lord!"_

The Doctor had made that remark a little too defensively.

"Time Lords can't get infections?" she asked him.

He closed his eyes and breathed out slowly, fighting off another wave of pain.

"I didn't say that, you didn't let me finish – I'm a sore, bruised Time Lord. So _don't_ touch, I've been through enough!"

And he kept the covers tightly about his shoulders as he turned his back to her, wrapped up warm in bed as he faced the wall.

Janey lingered in the doorway for a moment, watching as he lay there, but the Doctor kept his back turned.

"You get some rest," she said quietly, "I'll check on you later."

As she closed the door the Doctor turned on to his back once more and took in a slow, deep breath as pain throbbed through his injured chest. He was sure if he closed his eyes he would be able to calculate the precise depth each of those needles had been forced beneath his skin. He was sure he could also work out how deep the bruising was and although he was too tired to calculate anything at that moment, he also knew he would be hurting for a long time from it.

Then his thoughts shifted to Janey:

_What had she said, that she never wanted to repeat what had happened?_

_Did that mean she never wanted to set foot in the Tardis again?_

Then he thought back to all that had happened:

She had fought for him, her actions had turned around a situation he saw no way out of – she had taken on Daleks, stopped Davros, too – and now she was saying she wanted no more of this? He understood that danger was something best avoided by humans and Time Lords alike – yet over his lifetimes he had known many companions who had faced the same dangers and had not been put off travelling with him because of it. Some had been friends, others lovers... they had all stayed by his side, at least for a while...

_Janey wanted no more of it?_

He thought again of that clouded knowledge carried from another lifetime that she was destined to die – but only if she stayed on Earth...

And then the pain throbbed and he closed his eyes, gave into exhaustion and shifted into an uneasy sleep that was broken up over and over by memories of screaming as his oldest enemy sent pain coursing through his fragile human body.

* * *

It was late when Janey went back into the bedroom to check on the Doctor. She had thought over everything she had seen everything she had watched him suffer too – and even though she wanted to follow her instincts and get in bed and put her arms around him, she knew he was in too much pain to tolerate such close contact.

She opened the door quietly and looked into the bedroom. The Doctor was sleeping and as she recalled the depth of his wounds, she wondered how he could sleep after enduring such an injury. And then she remembered he was an alien. He didn't look like an alien, there was nothing about him that suggested he was different to any other man – but he _was_ different, and she hoped that would mean perhaps he would recover from his injuries quickly.

Janey took a step closer and he turned over, sighed and continued to sleep.

"Doctor?" she said softly, but he slept on and gave no reply.

Janey felt an ache in her heart as she thought about the man with the blue box who had come to mean so much to her, who was from a place far away that she knew nothing about. She closed the door and left him to sleep knowing this night would be a lonely one.

* * *

When Janey woke up in the morning she felt strange to find herself in the spare room while the alien with only one heart and one lifetime slept in her bed.

She showered and dressed and then thought about breakfast – then she wondered why the he was so quiet.

As she opened the door to the spare room and found it empty, she turned back and called the Doctor's name.

"I'm outside!" he called back, and she grabbed her coat and put it on as she hurried through the kitchen and opened the back door.

As she stepped out into the garden she stared at the Doctor.

He was wide awake, looked recovered from his ordeal and had changed his bloody shirt for a clean one.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

The Doctor dusted off a panel on the Tardis door and sealed the contents into an airtight container and put it into his pocket.

"I'm sore, but I'll live," he replied, and then as he looked at Janey he recalled how little time she had left if she stayed here on Earth.

"What did you mean yesterday, when you said you never want to repeat it again? Do you mean you could never travel with me again?"

Janey stepped closer and looked into his eyes. As she thought about all she had seen and remembered the fear she had gone through, her gaze briefly shifted to the Tardis and then back to the Doctor once more.

"You were right," she told him, "space _is_ dark and I've seen the things that hide in it, and I never want to see it again!"

As she spoke she shivered, recalling Davros, the living corpse in a Dalek shell who had wanted to strip her of her flesh. Then she thought about all the Doctor had suffered because of what the Daleks had done to him...he was looking at her so pleadingly but she knew she owed him no less than the truth, and so she gave it to him:

"I don't want to take risks like that again! I don't understand why you would choose to do it! What's wrong with staying safe?"

The Doctor's heart ached as he thought about what she had said – Safe? If she stayed here on Earth she was destined to die...

He grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her closer. As she saw that manic gleam back in his eyes she felt a brief flicker of alarm; he was into one of those up and down moods again and wasn't about to listen to her...

"Janey, it's not like that all the time! There are worlds out there waiting for us to discover, wonderful places, there is _so_ much out there! And I want you to come with me. I'll keep you safe. Although I must admit you did a good job of keeping me safe," and he smiled as he cast his mind back several lifetimes, "You can put up a fight, you can handle yourself! You remind me of someone I used to know - her name was Ace. She was tough like you, but you do the same _without_ a baseball bat! "

"Ace?" she wondered.

He shook his head.

"Someone I used to travel with a few lifetimes back. She wasn't my girlfriend, but she was a very close friend. You're a fighter like her."

Janey shook her head.

"You don't get it, do you? I don't want to fight anyone! I don't want danger in my life-I want to be nice and safe here on Earth, why don't you want that too? You have one lifetime left, one heart – a _human _body! Why would you risk that?"

"It's not always like that," he told her, "I can keep us safe. There are nicer places to go up there- space is vast...think about it, please!"

As she looked in his eyes he smiled playfully. "Come on Janey – a handsome bloke like me with my own ship –admit it, you can't say no..."

But Janey just shook her head again, and the Doctor's smile faded.

"You _can_ trust me," he told her, "I'd keep you safe. And I can't stay here - I know I've only got one heart but I can't turn away from the risk involved in the way I live, I'm used to it, I need it, I know that now!"

Janey blinked back tears.

"And I need you to stay alive," she replied, "you won't last long in that human body with one heart if you go out there and back into danger."

The Doctor reached out and stroked her cheek as he looked at her knowingly.

"I know its safer to stay in a nice, uneventful life – but think of the alternative, it doesn't have to be dangerous. You have to trust me, have faith in me."

"I do trust you," she replied,"and I love you too, but what I witnessed in space - it was hell!"

The Doctor's voice softened.

"_Then I shall make sure to only show you the heavenly side of the adventure."_

Janey was still tearful as she thought of the terror she had felt every second she had been aboard the Dalek ship.

"I'd take heaven over hell any day," she said quietly, "but up there, in the dark, where things hide? You can't promise me we'll never go through something like that again."

"But I can try," the Doctor replied, "because anything is better than staying here. You think you're safe, you'd actually be safer travelling with me."

His words confused her.

What do you mean?" she asked him, "Why wouldn't I be safe here on Earth?"

And as the Doctor looked back at her and knew he couldn't tell her the truth, she caught a flicker of something in his expression that sent a chill down her spine.

"What is it? "she demanded, "What do you know that you're not telling me? Its _my_ life, I've got a right to know!"

The Doctor's grip on her shoulders tightened as he looked deeply into her eyes.

"You're _not_ safe if you stay here. _Not safe at all._"

As Janey knew in a heartbeat that she believed him; the Doctor was deadly serious about that statement. Another chill ran through her body as she thought about the fact that he had seen all and knew everything that had ever been and ever would be - he knew her fate, and he wanted to change it...

"I believe you," she said in a hushed voice, "and I do trust in you. I just don't want to go into space again because you were right; every bad thing you warned me about was there!"

"And you must trust me to protect you," he told her, "I will keep you safe, Janey. I love you, I want you beside me."

Doubt flickered in her eyes.

"And what if I don't come with you? What happens to me?"

"No more questions," he said, pulling her closer. "Just believe me when I say, I'm not some thousand year old sex-mad lunatic with a blue box, I'm your saviour!"

"Saviour? I don't get it, Doctor. I wish I could see the future," Janey said, "Then there would be no secrets."

The Doctor thought again about the way Janey was destined to die if she stayed on Earth.

"_And I wish I could catch a bullet!"_

She blinked.

"What bullet?"

He held her tightly, almost bruising her beneath his grip and he gave her a sudden, passionate kiss to wipe out her chances of asking more about her future. Janey returned his kiss, and then he let go of her as he took the container from his pocket.

"I have to analyse this sample from the creature - I need to do it with the Tardis computer. Are you coming with me?"

Janey looked fearfully at the blue box as she hesitated.

"What's wrong?" the Doctor asked.

She slowly met his gaze.

"I'll come with you. I'll go in the Tardis again. But we're _not_ taking off!"

The Doctor's eyes shone with relief as he laughed.

"We're not taking off, Janey. But going back in the Tardis is a step in the right direction."

She shot him a warning look.

"I said I'm _not_ going up in space!"

"And I promise you we're staying on the ground," he replied, then he opened the Tardis door and she followed him inside.

* * *

The light was soft but bright and the Tardis hummed in its usual way to serve as a reminder that it was partly alive and very much linked to the Doctor.

Janey watched as he fed the sample into the computer and waited for the particles to analyse.

"It's not so bad in here," he said as he flashed her a smile, "it's just the Tardis, Janey. You're quite safe in here. And even if you wasn't - I mean you _are_ safe, I'm just saying_ if_ you wasn't – you can more than handle yourself."

The stony look in her eyes made his smile fade again.

"But I don't _want_ to be in a situation where I have fight to stay alive! Just because I _can_, it doesn't mean I _want_ to!"

The Doctor was watching as the results of the analysis came up on the screen.

"Well," he said,"this _is_ interesting...its definitely Dalek technology – only Daleks would engineer a creature in this way...but its entirely artificial, its amass of energy controlled by the main command back on the ship - there's something in the breakdown of its composition that suggests it's some kind of meat eater...like something's been programmed into it, telling it what to search for and devour..."

And he hit some buttons and waited.

As he leaned on the console Janey thought about what the Dalek leader had said.

"Davros said it was called the parasite. What does that mean?"

The Doctor considered her question.

"Well, it's been created to feed off a host – by the size of it I'd say the host would be a planet. The main control centre is pulling all its strings – this thing would be a lifeless mass of energy without its central command. It would turn in on itself and be destroyed. I can't isolate what its looking for, it's waiting for a command and that will certainly come from the Dalek ship. But I don't know what it's after - it could be anything, this could take a while. But I see a code for human DNA in there so I'm guessing it's a machine sent out to remove the population as soon as the Daleks send the signal..."

Janey's eyes widened.

"That's why I'm not safe to stay on Earth? Because that thing's coming to destroy the world?"

The Doctor was watching the computer as it worked on the analysis.

"No," he told her thoughtfully, "because I can _stop_ that thing up in space. But I _don't_ know if I can keep _you_ safe if we stay on Earth."

She stared at him.

"_What_ do you know?"

"It doesn't matter what I know - destiny is something that can be changed up to a point but after we go past that point, I don't know what becomes of the path your life will take, because _everything_ changes. That's why I want you to come with me."

And they looked at each other and Janey knew in a heartbeat she had no choice but to follow her instinct and her heart and trust the Doctor, even if it did mean taking more journeys into that dark place where bad things liked to hide...

"Trust in me," he said softly.

"I do trust you," Janey replied.

And then the computer's final analysis came up and the Doctor read the results.

"No," he whispered as his face paled, "this is worse than I expected...I need to get some more rest and then go back up to the Dalek ship, because I have to destroy main control!"

Alarm flickered in Janey's eyes.

"You can't go back there after what they did to you! Are you totally insane?"

The Doctor fixed his gaze on her.

"I have no choice," he said, "The Daleks didn't create that thing purely to eat its way through planets- they're targeting a certain part of the population, in fact its a form of population control...they've programmed this thing to seek out the children."

"What children?" she asked.

A haunted look was in the Doctor's eyes as he recalled the recently inflicted pain he had suffered because of Davros. Once more he knew he had no choice but to enter into battle with a very, very old enemy...

"_The children of Earth," _he said in a hushed voice_,"it's designed to wipe them out. It's probably the first stage in their plan to completely obliterate the human race. I have no choice – I have to go back to the Dalek ship, I have to stop this from happening..."_


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

As the Doctor's words sunk in, Janey was gripped by fear that pulled her thoughts in two directions – she felt torn between rushing over to her mother's house to warn her, to tell her to keep her little sister safe – or to grab the Doctor and drag him out of the Tardis and back into the house, separating him from the possibility that he might go back up there, back to the Dalek ship...

"You can't go back there again," she said, "please, _think_ about this!"

"I have thought about it," the Doctor replied, showing no trace of the fear he had once felt, "and I don't have a choice now I know what's happening!"

"If you go back up there, back to the Dalek ship, even if you manage to destroy the machine that controls the parasite – what makes you think you'll get out of there in one piece? You won't do it, Doctor! You'll get yourself killed!"

Janey had spoken sharply and those facts had driven in deeply, right into his vulnerable human heart and her words had scared him more than he cared to show. He brushed aside his fears and managed to smile.

"I was hoping the odds on my survival would be considerably good, especially if you came with me - because I _know_ you can handle yourself."

And he looked into her eyes.

"Please," he begged her, "you _can_ do this – we can do this together! I could go alone but I do think I'd be much better off if I had your help. It's just one journey, one fight and I've done this before, I've been up against Davros and his Daleks – I've fought bigger armies and worse battles and with worse creatures than Daleks, Janey _please_..."

She slowly shook her head.

"No chance," she whispered, and turned away and walked out of the Tardis.

Daylight briefly filtered into the room as the door opened, and then it swung shut behind her.

"Janey?" he called out, but she gave no reply.

The Doctor screwed his hand into a fist, thumped the console and then grabbed at his throbbing hand.

_"Stupid weak human body!"_ he said aloud, _"I can't even hit my own bloody console without hurting myself!"_

Then he left the Tardis, intent on changing Janey's mind.

* * *

The Doctor found her in the living room.

Janey had taken off her coat and now she was sitting on the sofa by the window and as he walked into the room she looked up at him sharply.

"Don't start again! I told you, I don't want to take risks with my life! I know you think I'd be safer up there with you, I believe you – but I _know_ it's not a good idea to back to that ship! We'll _both_ die!"

The Doctor stood there in silence as he saw fear reflected in her hazel eyes. Then he took in a breath and resisted the urge to turn this into a quarrel and stated the facts as he saw them:

"Dalek technology is obviously far advanced by comparison to your Earth standards. But its _not _so smart that it's untouchable. I could very easily destroy their main control. I could do it in a matter of seconds and cause enough chaos on that ship to cause a distraction, which we could use to our advantage to get back to the Tardis. I'm not saying there won't be risk – but we stand a good chance of getting out of there alive because this time, I'm planning for it."

She got up and looked at him doubtfully.

"Planning for what?"

There was a brief flash of panic in the Doctor's eyes as he realised Janey had figured out his plan – there was no real plan yet...

"Oh I don't know - whatever happens next! I'm assuming we'll be shot at, possibly even captured –"

"_And this time you'll die."_

The Doctor closed his eyes and took in a deep breath trying to summon calm as Janey continued to speak:

"But maybe it won't happen right away. Maybe they'll torture you again, and then I'll have to watch like I did before. And then I'll have to watch you die, then I'll die, a billion miles from home –"

"A billion miles away from a world that's about to be _destroyed _if we don't even try for this!" he snapped, breaking off from his attempt at a moment of calm as he glared at her, "If you don't help me, I'll go alone! You're right; I probably _will_ die! But at least I'll know that it's the same old story, me going off to play the hero for your helpless planet! And I won't regret it because I know that my actions could keep this world turning!"

His outburst had silenced her.

The Doctor reached out and placed his hand on her cheek and as he looked at her she swore she saw, just for a second, a glimpse of time's fire burning within his eyes.

"Don't think I'm doing this to be a hero," he said as his voice softened,"because I'm not. And I'm not doing because I'm the Doctor and I want one last battle with an old enemy, this isn't about settling scores. You want to know the truth, why I'm _really_ doing this? Well, here it is - _I got old, I got weary of battles. But then I found myself in my final life and I met you on the day my Tardis crashed to Earth and like the old fool I am, I fell in love. That's why I'm doing this, Janey – I'm not fighting the Daleks to be a hero, I'm doing this because I fell in love with you, that's all there is to it – I've got one life left and I'm risking it for you. I guess it's true what they say, there's no fool like an old fool– especially one like me, an old Time Lord on his last life with one heart and no regenerations left_..."

As her vision blurred she blinked and the Doctor brushed a tear from her cheek.

"Space is dark," he continued, "and there _are_ nasty things that like to hide in it. So as long as my one remaining heart still beats, as long as I'm here to love you, I will defend the planet you call home and do it for love, Janey. I'll do it for everything and everyone you hold dear, because my home planet was destroyed long ago and I don't want this world to end before its time. This planet is so full of life I can almost hear it breathing! I'm going back up there to the Dalek ship and I hope you understand my reason now."

"You're doing all this for me?" Janey blinked away more tears, "You'd give your life for me? You'd risk it all for me?"

The Doctor nodded.

"I couldn't do anything less because I love you, it's as simple as that, Janey."

As she looked into his eyes she said nothing, then shifted closer and their lips touched as they shared the softest of kisses.

A loud knocking at the front door separated them at once; the Doctor caught a flicker of alarm in Janey's eyes and then she looked away from him.

"Wait here, I've got to speak to someone and its urgent."

He made a move to follow her but got no further than the doorway as she shot him another glance, adding:

"_It's private."_

* * *

The Doctor waited just inside the doorway, peering out as he watched a tall, heavy-built man hand Janey a closed up sports bag.

"You know the time and place," he said in a low voice.

Janey nodded, and then said something in reply in a hushed tone, and then she closed the door again, leaving the bag in the hallway.

The Doctor stepped out of the living room, eyeing the bag curiously.

"What was that about?"

Janey grew tense as she looked back at him

"I told you, it's private. Someone dropped the bag off and I have to take it somewhere later on, it's a favour for a friend, you don't need to know the rest –"  
She broke off from conversation, lunging forward but too late as the Doctor unzipped the bag and stared at the money packed inside. He thought about the hazy recollection that some how, Janey was destined to die - and now he got the awful feeling that he knew why...

As she took in the sight of the money, Janey fell silent.

The Doctor looked from the open bag to the girl with such fear in her eyes and knew at once what this was about.

"You're working more than one kind of job to pay off that loan you got for your mother," he said quietly," this is drug money, isn't it?"

Janey gave a heavy sigh.

"When Dad died Mum couldn't make the house payments. I had to do something to help! So there was this guy at the club, a friend of my ex. He said if I did him a few favours I could have ten grand to help my Mum out. I thought I'd be paying him back out of the money I get for the dancing, but he wanted more than that. He wanted me to be his courier. I don't have a choice now; you don't mess around with these people. He said another year and my debt's paid."

The Doctor's eyes grew wider.

"A year? Another _year,_ Janey? Don't you know the risk you're taking? If you got arrested you'd be going to prison for a very long time!"

She shook her head.

"And what's the alternative? Say, _thanks but no thanks?_ You don't say _no_ to people like Alec Stubbs! I've got no choice, I _have_ to do this."

And the Doctor looked at Janey, feeling heavy in his heart s he recalled the hazy memory that she was destined to die...he felt it in his bones now, this was the reason. Janey seemed resigned to the fact that she was tied to this dealer and forced to work for him, but something would change, how or where or why had frustratingly escaped him - but some day, Janey would tell him she had enough of it. And things _would_ turn ugly, and he would silence her forever...

"You don't realise the danger you're in," he said quietly.

Janey shook her head.

"Just leave it, okay? Wait here, I've got a job to do."

The Doctor thought about the Dalek-created threat that hovered close to Earth.

"So do I," he reminded her, but the only reply that came back at him was the sound of the front door closing.

* * *

The Doctor waited at Janey's flat, sitting alone by the dim glow of the lamp that lit up the front room while the fire glowed and outside light snow fell and the silence seemed to tap at his brain in a way that made him want to drive his fist into a wall.

"_Stupid bloody humans!"_ he said under his breath as he glanced at the clock, saw it was almost nine and then continued to watch the snow fall as his heart ached as he thought of Janey, risking her life, risking her liberty...and for what? To transfer some drug money for a scumbag who she owed a few grand to?

He thought about the Tardis and the chance to change the future. It wouldn't be the first time he had altered fate. Changing history was becoming something of a habit, and one he had paid dearly for more than once in his long past – but he couldn't walk away from her because his weak, fragile, single human heart refused to allow it...

Finally he heard the scratch of a key in the door and as he jumped up from his seat, he heard the door close. There was a delay as Janey took off her coat and her boots. He waited in the front room and as the door opened, he was torn between throwing his arms around her and thanking Rassilon she was still alive or simply launching into a stern lecture about the dangers of the path she had chosen.

_Instead, he did neither._

"I'm okay," she told him as she joined him by the warmth of the fire.

The Doctor glared at her, thought about how beautiful she was, how fragile she was, what a dangerous game she was playing... but none of those sentiments came out into spoken word.

"What time do you call this?" he said angrily, "I've been worried half to death!"

Janey looked into his eyes as she reached up and placed her hands on his shoulders.

"I told you not to worry. I don't like doing this but right now, I have no choice. And there was no trouble, it's over for a while-I won't have to do it again for three weeks."

"You won't be here in three weeks," the Doctor replied, "You're coming with me, in the Tardis - I'll save your planet, Janey – but I can't save you, not if you stay here on Earth!"

Her hazel eyes met his own eyes of sky blue and she searched his gaze for answers he refused to give.

A silence passed between them, then Janey broke it with the question he had been dreading.

_"Are you saying I'll wind up dead because of who I'm mixed up with? Is that what happens if I stay here?"_

The Doctor took in a slow breath, choosing his words carefully.

"My memories are from many lifetimes, as you can imagine now, in my final life, those recollections are rather hazy. I can't say you're right – but I don't think you're wrong, either. I know for certain you'll be much safer out there in space, with me."

Janey's gaze had not left him and now she looked at him thoughtfully.

Then she slowly nodded.

"Okay," she replied cautiously, "I'll come with you – after you've gone back and finished off that Dalek ship. I love you but I don't want to risk my life. You might think I'm taking a chance shifting that drug money, but its nothing, nothing at all compared to going up it space and coming up against Daleks again! I'm not doing it, Doctor. I'll wait for you I trust you. If you think you can do this, I want to believe you. And no matter what the future holds, I want to stay alive – but on _my_ terms, not yours. I'm sorry, but you'll have to handle the Daleks on your own."

The Doctor blinked back tears, mostly from relief as he considered her words and the message finally sunk in that she had agreed to leave with him in the Tardis. He didn't like the idea of taking on Davros and his army alone, but Janey had made it clear: She did not want to go back up there and into more conflict. He didn't blame her for feeling that way, for someone who took stupid risks running drug money, the girl had a strong sense of self-preservation and he was thankful she was determined to stay safe, even if she hadn't yet woken up to the dangers of the kind of life she was living...

"I _will_ come back for you," he promised her, "I won't let you down."

And then he held her closer, but let go sharply as her body pressed against his aching chest.

"Are you all right?"

Concern showed in her eyes now.

"Yes, I'm fine," he said, and then changed his mind as pain registered on his face and he decided to own up to the truth.

"Actually I'm in bloody agony! I need to put something on these wounds -"

"I've got some antiseptic cream in the bathroom," Janey offered.

His chest ached and he managed a smile despite the pain.

"No Janey, I need something much stronger. I've got all I need in the Tardis."

Finally Janey's expression softened.

"I'll come with you," she told him.

* * *

As they left the cold, snowy garden and entered the Tardis the warmth that filled the place seemed to match the softness of the glowing lights that lit the console room, it was as if the Tardis was welcoming them home, it was certainly welcoming the Doctor because he took off his coat and left it on the console and headed for a long corridor at the back of the room.

"Where are we going?" Janey asked him as they walked. The corridor was long and winding and doors were left and right and she was glad he was taking the lead, because a few more twists and turns and she was sure she would have got lost had she ventured this deep into the Tardis alone.

"In here," he replied stopping abruptly and opening a door.

The Doctor went into the room first and Janey followed.

She blinked and then stared as she took in the sight of the flickering fire in the hearth and the dark, antique-looking furniture. There was a large four poster bed in the middle of the room with heavy velvet drapes. This room looked like something out of a stately home.

"How can this room look so old and..."

The Doctor took a china jar from the bedside table and looked back at her.

Their eyes met and as he smiled, she felt as if he had read her mind.

"How can it look so romantic?" he said warmly, "That's the Tardis – she knows me, even before I know my regenerated self – she knows how to change rooms according to my needs. And she has it right, too – I love this room. I can definitely sleep well in here."

He sat down on the bed and kicked off his shoes and then unbuttoned his shirt.

As the firelight flickered Janey watched him, thinking about joining him on that bed.

Then he stripped off his shirt and she saw the bruises around deep needle marks, the painful legacy of the torture he had endured, and romantic thoughts left her swiftly.

The Doctor handed her the jar of ointment and lay back against soft pillows as he closed his eyes.

"Be gentle. I swear if you hurt me once I'm putting that stuff on myself, without your help!"

Janey smiled.

"I won't hurt you," she promised him.

* * *

The Doctor kept his eyes closed, taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly as Janey's hand gilded over his chest, lightly covering his wounds with ointment that he knew would heal him faster than anything she had back in her flat in the bathroom cabinet.

As he caught his breath she paused, hoping her touch had not been too heavy.

"Sorry, did that hurt?"

The Doctor opened his eyes and looked up at her.

"No Janey, but you just brushed against my nipples and it was bloody exquisite!"

She laughed softly.

"I'd better work my way lower, then...I'm almost done now."

The Doctor caught her in his gaze as he spoke quietly.

"No..." he said softly, "Do it again...just touch me, your touch is so gentle, so warm..."

Janey replied with a brief kiss and carefully rubbed in more of the ointment, covering all of his wounds.

"Better?" she asked him.

"I will be in the morning," he replied,"This stuff works fast -"

And he caught his breath as her hands gently slid over his chest once more, caressing him so lightly, in the same way that had excited him a moment before.

He looked into her eyes and smiled playfully as he reached for her and pulled her closer.

"The best thing you can do for me now," he murmured as he rolled her on to her back," is to take off all your clothes and get in bed and hold me...I mean gently, remember I'm not healed yet..."

Janey slipped her arms around him and as their lips met the Doctor closed his eyes, losing himself in a moment that took him back to where he needed to be the most, in Janey's arms, warm in bed, with no thoughts of Daleks and old battles coming back to haunt him as he held her tighter and their kiss deepened.

* * *

_The Doctor woke suddenly in the middle of the night._

Firelight still flickered and the room was warm. Janey was beside him, her dark hair trailing over the pillow as she slept deeply.

The Doctor looked at her and was overwhelmed by the love that surged through his one remaining heart as he watched her sleeping and recalled their kisses, the way she clung to him, how she had caught her breath as he had thrust against her, taking her completely, their bodies becoming as one beneath the silken sheets. She had trembled in his arms as he had lost control and then he had cried out and collapsed into her arms; their skin had slid warmly together, dampened with sweat as the scent of their warm bodies filled the space they occupied beneath the sheets. It had been passionate, it had been desperate, her nails digging into his back as he slammed against her wanting nothing more than to lose himself in a moment of pure bliss.

_It had been real, the way love was meant to be, two people lost in abandonment, in complete need for each other. _

_He knew he loved her and she loved him too._

And as he put on his dressing gown and got up from the bed, he was careful not to wake her.

He stood watching her sleep for a moment, then he quietly left the room and went back down the corridor.

* * *

The console room's lights were dimmed, and remained dim as he stepped into the room.

He looked around the controls, watched the way the crystals glowed gently in the semi dark and thought of the battle that lie ahead.

_The Daleks had to be stopped._

_And he would be going alone..._

He recalled countless battles from other lifetimes.

He recalled regenerations that had come and gone, each life lost because of a battle, one way or another danger had always cost him one of his regenerations.

_Now he was down to his last one._

"This cat's run out of lives," he murmured, "and I had more than nine, too...what did I _do_ with them all?"

The hum of the Tardis was low and gentle as he looked around the room thoughtfully.

"All I have to show for my lifetimes is you, old girl," he said quietly, "an old Tardis and a battle-scarred mind that I can barely control any more... and her, I have Janey. That's all. I have you, Janey and one heart. One heart, one life. It's not much to show for several lifetimes, is it?"

And even though the Tardis could not answer, the Doctor felt sure the old girl understood.

"Maybe it _is_ enough," the Doctor added, "it doesn't seem like much, but if it's about love, I have plenty of that for Janey and she has just as much for me too. _When it comes to life and all that really matters, perhaps it's not supposed to get any better than that_."

And then he turned away and left the console room, and headed back down the corridor again.

* * *

As the Doctor went back into the bedroom, he paused in the doorway, watching the light from the flickering fire that lit the room so gently.

It threw a soft light about the place, sending a warm glow around the room that mixed with shadow and as he watched Janey sleeping, a sudden thought hit him that sent an ache through his single remaining heart:

_What if he didn't make it back from the Dalek ship?_

_Would Janey really know how much he had loved her, or would she just shrug and shake her head and decide he was a fool for trying to stand up for what was right?_

_Would she know exactly how deeply, how eternally she was etched into his fragile human heart?_

Suddenly tears burned at his eyes and as he went over to the bed and sat down, he took in a sharp breath as he reached for her and stroked her hair.

"_You need to know how much I love you,"_ he whispered, _"Janey, you need to know in case I don't come back..."_

And as he got back in bed and put his arm around her, Janey stirred, then shifted closer to him.

He watched her sleeping again, and then he cautiously spoke her name, and Janey gave a sigh and slowly opened her eyes.

As she saw the Doctor on his side looking intently at her, she gave a lazy smile and looked into his eyes as she reached up and ran her fingers through his hair.

"Go sleep, darling..." she whispered, "it's late..."

"But not _too_ late," he said softly, blinking as tears blurred his vision, "Janey, listen to me, I just want to tell you something, I need to tell you that –"

"_Shh..." _Janey slid her arms around him, pulling him closer.

As she leaned against his chest and the Doctor was relieved to find the pressure of her embrace was no longer painful, meaning he was healing faster than he had expected.

"Good night," she murmured, snuggling up to him as she closed her eyes again.

The Doctor watched her as she drifted back to sleep. Then the weight of his own sorrow refused to be held back and as he blinked, tears ran down his face.

_"I just want you to know how much I love you, "_ he whispered, _"because I'm leaving tomorrow, I'm taking on Davros and his army and I might not come back, you might never know..."_

Janey gave a sigh and slept on, while the Doctor held her in his arms, weeping silently as he wished he had found the moment to say all the things that needed to be said – because come morning, when she found out he planned to leave immediately, she would be in no mood for such a declaration of love, and he knew if he didn't return, those words would never be said, not in the way he wanted to say them, from his heart, to tell her just how much he loved her...

"_I'm sorry I left it too late," _he whispered, and the firelight flickered as coals crackled and somewhere beyond this room the Tardis gave a low hum, as if to remind the Doctor the ship was very much alive. And Janey slept on, unaware the man she loved wept as he held her in the darkened room, waiting for morning to come, along with a future that was uncertain...

* * *

Janey woke up to a darkened fireplace and an empty space beside her.

She grabbed her clothes and threw them on, calling the Doctors name but getting no reply.

Panic flashed through her mind as she recalled the last time she had found herself waking up alone and all kinds of fears had flitted through her mind as she thought of how unstable he was, of how she didn't like to leave him alone too long...

"_Doctor?"_

Her voice echoed down the vast corridor.

Janey looked left and right, turned around, then another flash of panic hit her as she wondered if she was likely to get lost in these winding corridors.

She stood still for a moment, looked back at the bedroom, then up towards a bright glow at the end of the corridor. She felt certain that was the way they had come in last night, and she hurried up towards the light at the end of the corridor, shouting his name again.

"Where are you?" she said urgently as she turned a corner and found herself back in the console room.

"I'm here- and now is the time you should be leaving," the Doctor replied as he checked the controls.

Janey stared at him.

"Leaving?"

"Yes, you should get out of here because I'm getting ready to leave and I'm going back to the Dalek ship. I have to stop Davros and I'm aware I'll be going alone – so you should leave _now_."

He looked into her eyes and smiled.

"And I _will_ be coming back for you, I won't get myself killed up there - I've got too much to live for!"

But even though he was forcing a smile, she saw pain in his eyes.

"Why do you have to go now?"

"Because I don't know when the Daleks are planning to use that creature to strike. I'd rather get in there first, destroy their main control and put an end to it now – its better to get this over and done with. I was expecting to need several days rest but I'm healed, so there's nothing stopping me from going back today and ending this."

And Janey continued to stare at him.

"You'll be killed!"

"And this planet will be destroyed, or at least its population will be if I don't get up there and do something to stop it from happening. I will come back from this, Janey. I'm coming back for you, because I promised you I would. Davros and his army can't stop me because I love you and I'm going to sort out this mess once and for all!"

Janey slowly turned and glanced at the Tardis door.

"Go on," the Doctor said as he pressed some buttons and then glanced up at her, "off you go... oh, and there's one more thing... I want you to take this."

And he reached into his pocket and held up a spare Tardis key.

"You'll need it when I get back, " he told her, "because I _am _coming back, and when I do, you're leaving, with me."

And the light caught on the silver key and Janey stepped closer, looked at the key and then into the eyes of her lover.

"You can't leave now, not right now!"

"There's no time," he replied, "just take the key, it's the key to the Tardis, a promise of our future... the key to my heart. Please, just take it and I'll know I have a reason to come back from this fight in one piece."

Tears shone in his eyes as he looked at her.

"Just take it," he said as his voice began to crack with emotion.

Janey blinked back her own tears and shook her head.

"I don't want you to go!"

"There's no time," he reminded her, "I'm leaving, Janey."

She shook her head.

_"I didn't want it to end like this!"_

The Doctor blinked as his eyes stung and he fought back the urge to weep again.

"I have to do this. Once it's over we have a future together -"

"I _can't_ say goodbye!" she told him tearfully and turned away, running for the Tardis door.

As the door swung shut behind her, the Doctor looked at the key in his hand, and then slipped it back into his pocket.

He leaned on the console and took in a breath to steady himself, and then he tried to banish thoughts of Janey from his mind as he tried to prepare for the difficult task that lie ahead.

"Looks like I'll be doing this alone," he said aloud, "but who knows...maybe I'll come back, I might make it..."

And the Tardis hummed quietly, waiting for the controls to be activated to shift time and dimension.

The Doctor looked up at the crystals that glowed at the heart of the controls and the glow reflected in his eyes.

"I _have_ to come back from this," he said quietly_,"I can't afford to lose this fight – I have too much to live for..."_

* * *

Janey hurried back into the kitchen, leaving the door open as she reached for the ringing phone and lifted it from the kitchen wall.

As her mother spoke and reminded her it was the weekend, and asked her if she had forgotten she had promised to take her sister shopping in town, Janey's thoughts were still with the Doctor.

She glanced through the open doorway to where the Tardis stood, blue and with its roof slightly covered in snowflakes. She thought about the man she loved, about to leave and go into a situation that he probably wouldn't get out of.

_She knew this could be the end._

She held back her tears as she kept her gaze fixed on the blue box.

Her mother was speaking again, asking what time she was coming over to take her sister shopping.

Janey thought of the Doctor and her heart lurched as she thought of him alone, going into danger – he wouldn't have survived without her help last time, what chance did he stand alone this time?

Her mother spoke again, wondering why she had fallen silent.

Janey gripped the phone harder as a new resolve burned in her eyes.

"_Mum, "_she said, _"I'm sorry, but I won't be coming over to the house this morning. I have something to do. I might be a bit late..."_

Then Janey put the phone down.

Her eyes were still fixed on the view of the blue box out in the yard.

She began to walk towards the open kitchen door, and then she broke into a run as the light above the Tardis began to flash and the sound of a wheezing groan filled the air.

"_Doctor!"_ She yelled, _"Wait– I've changed my mind!"_


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Janey hammered on the door of the Tardis.

"_Wait!" _she yelled again.

And the Tardis fell silent, the light stopped flashing and the Doctor opened the door.

"Did you forget something?" he asked cautiously, hardly daring to think there was a chance she had decided to come with him.

And then he saw the look in her eyes and his heart leapt with joy.

"No," she replied, "I just remembered something – there's no way I'm letting you go back to that ship alone!"

And he smiled as he stepped back and she entered the Tardis.

"I'm so glad you changed your mind!"

The Doctor threw his arms around her, hugged her and gave her a brief kiss, it was far too short for Janey, who clung to him, but the Doctor let go and dashed over to the console.

"Ready?" he asked her.

She looked at him and shook her head.

"Not really – but I'm coming with you!"

The Doctor threw levers and hit buttons and the crystals began to rise and fall.

Then he dashed around the console and joined her once more, there was a look in his eyes that she wasn't sure she could trust – or even knew if he could trust it, because he had gone in a second from being down in the depths of despair to up into pure elation, and now didn't see like the best of times for the Doctor to have one of his mood swings, even if a high seemed a better option than one of his lows at a time like this...

"You won't regret this!" he said enthusiastically, "You and me, together, here – out in space...we can do anything, Janey! Anything! "

And he turned to the view of dark space and spinning stars seen through the Tardis window and threw his arms wide as if embracing the galaxy.

"It's all out there, it's for us, its for our new life together...the whole universe!"

And he turned back to her sharply as his eyes sparkled manically.

"It's so beautiful, I can see so many colours when I watch the dimensions shift. Do you see it?"

Janey barely had time to think about an answer, because the Doctor carried on talking, and far too quickly as he turned back to the window.

_"It's all beautiful, everything is beautiful, I could almost touch those colours as they rush by!"_

He spun around, gripping the console as he looked at her again.

"Yes, dark things hide in space, of course they do – but there's so much more and I know it all, I can _feel_ it all, it's all inside me..."

He pressed his fingertips to his temples as he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he thought about the vastness of space and the infinity of time and how it overwhelmed him.

_"It's all in me,"_ he whispered, _"I can feel the stars burn, the planets turning and I can touch the fabric of time! It's like nothing else you can imagine, Janey...its like paradise, and I can feel all of it, because it's there, it's all in my head!"_

That manic look was still in his eyes, the Doctor had broken out in a sweat and he was breathless from rattling off his words so fast she could barely catch them.

"You should slow down," she said carefully.

The Doctor blinked, seeming a fraction disoriented for a moment as he paused to try and catch his thoughts, they were thoughts that were rushing by so fast he was sure his own mind was moving faster than the Tardis as it shifted dimension.

"_I could take on the universe!"_ he declared.

"You're going hyper again," Janey told him.

"I've never felt better!" he said quickly, "I have you now, I need you, this is the best thing that could have happened – we are going to walk in there and destroy that Dalek ship! We'll destroy it because we can, because I'm the Doctor!"

And he dragged in a breath as sweat ran down his face and smiled at Janey.

"_I'm invincible now!"_ he exclaimed.

"Oh no..." Janey said quietly, guessing this had to be just about the worst time for his manic mood to swing so sharply.

And then the Tardis stopped spinning, there was a groan from the ship and they landed, quietly.

The view from the window no longer showed the stars or the velvet blackness of space - they were back in the cargo hold of the Dalek ship...

* * *

The Doctor checked his pockets, found his sonic screwdriver and put it back in his pocket again.

"I'm going to open that crawl space again," he told her, "that's how we'll get into main control."

Janey just stood there, wishing that manic look would vanish from his eyes as she got the sinking feeling that his unbalanced mind was about to lead them both straight into trouble...

"And then what?" she asked, "The Daleks are just going to let you take over and wreck their machine?"

The Doctor paused, taking in a couple of slow breaths as his racing mind began to slow a little.

"I don't know" he said vaguely, "I don't know what could happen next, but it's the only way in. We won't get there by walking off down the corridors, too many Daleks about... have _you_ got any ideas?"

And she looked back at him and saw confusion in his eyes now; the rushing thoughts and words he had rattled off had left him a little disoriented and now he seemed to be hoping she had all the answers.

"We have to be careful," she reminded him, "Oh _why_ did you have to go off on one of your crazy moods at a time like this?"

His eyes widened in surprise.

"Crazy? I was just ...I don't know, I couldn't keep up with myself, that's all! Now let's get out there and get that grille open, we need to get to main control."

And he headed for the Tardis door and Janey followed.

"Trust me," the Doctor said as he reached the door, "I know what I'm doing."

Janey shook her head.

"You _think_ you know what you're doing," she murmured, but all the same she followed as he left the Tardis, knowing for sure she had done the right thing - he was in no fit state to take on Davros and his army alone, especially not now his mood swings were back...

* * *

Moments later the Doctor was using the sonic screwdriver to remove the grille from the wall.

Janey stood back, nervously glancing over her shoulder, but the cargo hold was empty and there were no Daleks on patrol.

"I wonder where they are?" she said to the Doctor.

The sonic screwdriver let out a low whine and another screw hit the polished metal floor.

"Since we left, I'd say they were too busy freeing their leader and checking the ship for reasons for the emergency lock down," he told her, "Davros would have been their main priority, and then checking the rest of the ship for damage. They wouldn't expect us to come back, so why guard the cargo hold? They didn't believe me when I said I was the Doctor, so why should they expect any more trouble?"

The grille slipped away from the wall and the Doctor lifted it aside and gestured into the crawl space.

"After you my dear," he said, and Janey was relieved to notice his mood seemed to be evened out now - he was noticeably calmer. She hoped it would last, because he needed a clear head to go into battle against Davros...

She crawled inside and the Doctor followed, pausing to reach back and lean the grille up against the open vent. The shiny tunnel turned left and right and she hesitated, unsure of which way to go. The Doctor tapped her shoulder.

"That way," he said, pointing up ahead, "just keep going, I know the way."

And Janey began to make her way up the tunnel, hoping the Doctor was right.

As they reached the grille that showed a view of the control room, the Doctor stopped and took out the sonic screwdriver.

Janey's eyes were fixed on the globe in the middle of the room, something that looked like living fire swirled within, made of the same material as the creature that hovered about Earths orbit.

"There are seven Daleks in that room," she said in a low voice, "they will shoot us the minute we climb out into the control room."

Another screw clattered to the floor of the crawl space and the Doctor turned his attention to the last screw that held the grille in place.

"No they won't," he said, sounding confident, "they're curious, they wanted to take us alive last time, they'll do the same this time."

She looked at him doubtfully.

"The same as last time? So you mean they'll capture us and take you off for more interrogation?"

The Doctor smiled as he removed the last screw that held the grille in place.

"No," he said smugly "because this time, they don't know we're here. They haven't located the Tardis or locked it down. "

And he briefly lifted a small, round remote control in a silver casing from his pocket.

"I can recall the Tardis any time I want. I can call it up to this main control centre if I want to – and then we're in, and were off again. So the odds are considerably stacked in our favour this time, Janey. I told you it's going to be okay – you _can_ trust me, I know what I'm doing!"

Janey took in a deep breath as the Doctor shifted the grille aside quietly and gestured to her to follow him.

* * *

The Daleks were across the other side of the room, monitoring controls. The large sphere filled with what looked like living fire stood in the middle of the room, vast, dominating all else. The Daleks did not turn around as the Doctor and Janey climbed out from the space where the grille had once been firmly held in place.

The Doctor stood tight against the wall as he watched the scene unfold, the Daleks were too busy with the task of manning the controls that kept the creature alive to bother with little else; their attentions were on the array of buttons on the panels in front of them.

The Doctor stepped forward and beckoned to Janey.

"I need a distraction," he said in a low voice, "remember how you helped me before, got them to shoot at each other? That's what I need you to do again."

Janey's eyes widened.

"I knew I'd regret coming back here!"

"Please, just do it... they're not looking at us, it should be easy..."

Janey glared at him.

"Easy?" she hissed, "Count them, Doctor – there's seven of them! Not an even number - and you're hoping they'll shoot at each other in confusion, there's bound to be one left!"

"Have you got a better idea?"

She shook her head. The Doctor leaned in and gave her a brief kiss.

"Trust me," he said, and looked over at the Daleks.

Janey's gaze flickered fearfully towards the Daleks at the controls then she looked back at the Doctor.

"I'll grab the one at the end and spin it around, push it against the others."

"Remember the eyepiece," he reminded her, but Janey just shook her head.

"There's nothing in here to blind them with," she replied, "I'll just have to hope this bright idea of yours might work."

And the Doctor wanted to promise her that it would, but she turned away and as he watched her sneak around the back of the controls and approach the Dalek, he felt an ache in his heart as he wondered if he had dragged her back here out of selfishness; he had lost enough companions over the years to know what that kind of regret felt like... and those had been people who had welcomed adventure, but Janey...she just wanted to turn away from the danger, yet he had drawn her back into it...

_And now it was too late to change anything._

Janey had gone up behind the Dalek, grabbing it as she spun it around, slamming it against its companion.

"_I am under attack!"_ the Dalek screeched.

"EXTERMINATE!" said another, and Janey ducked as the second Dalek fired a shot that punched a dent into the wall. The first Dalek fired too, its aim was off, it was disoriented and as the blast hit the second Dalek, the third turned and blasted its companion, blowing open the Dalek shell casing.

More shots rang out and as Janey ducked down, she shoved the dead Dalek against its companion, sending three Daleks spinning out of control.

"_EXTERMINATE!"_ they screeched in unison, firing gun sticks in rapid succession.

"Get down!" the Doctor yelled, slamming into Janey as he tumbled to the floor and took her with him.

Janey hit the polished floor hard, looking up as shots fired overhead, bouncing off walls and bouncing back again, some punched dents into the walls but others simply ricocheted back. There was a boom and a burst of sparks as one by one, Daleks fell, caught in their own frenzied crossfire. Janey looked up as the Doctor scrambled to his feet, pausing to duck as a laser was fired from a Dalek gun stick. He quickly glanced back at Janey.

"Stay down," he told her, "this wont take long!"

Janey rolled towards the back of the control panel, up tight against the corner of the room as Dalek weapons discharged again, she turned to see the Doctor lean over the open shell casing of a dead Dalek, reaching inside to the sticky mess that remained of the creature the casing had once housed.

"CEASE FIRE!" boomed a familiar voice.

"Oh no..." Janey said as she looked up from the floor.

The door had slid open and Davros had entered the room, flanked by two grey Dalek guards.

The Doctor turned from the blown apart Dalek and straightened up, looking into the eyes of his old enemy.

This time, as Davros surveyed the damage, saw the dead and wounded Daleks and the level of destruction done to the control panel and the walls, he began to see why the man who stood before him had such a smug look in his eyes.

Davros glared at him.

"You cannot be him!" he raged, "You cannot be the Doctor!"

"But I am," the Doctor replied, "you got it wrong, Davros. Here I am, in my final life, in human form – one heart, one lifetime left...and I _still_ have an old score to settle with you! Knowing that makes dying for the sake of it almost a pleasure."

And he smirked as he held his arms out and a manic gleam appeared in his eyes.

"_Come on, then – do your worst!" _

As he shouted at the Dalek leader his voice echoed around the steel room, _"Let's get it over with!"_ he yelled, _"Take me out, shoot me now!"_

And Davros glared at him, his face contorted into a mask of fury.

"_You will suffer for the devastation you have caused!"_ he shouted, _"You will die screaming for your agony to end, Doctor! And I shall grant you not a shred of pity!"_

The Doctor stood there in silence as he took in a breath and forced his racing thoughts to slow down. In that split second, as he looked at the shrivelled, half-corpse, half-Dalek who glared at him with such hatred, all his own anger slipped away.

"You never change, do you, Davros," he remarked as he took a step closer to the giant globe and glanced at the swirling fire within it, "I've been here before – you, me, your army...it never ends well, at least not for you. This time will be no exception."

And he reached out, placing his hand against the globe containing the swirling fire, the nerve centre that controlled the giant creature that circled Earth.

One of the Dalek guards raised a gun stick.

"Shall I exterminate him?"

Davros stiffly shifted a withered, half - metal hand.

"No shot can be fired near the nerve centre!" he barked, "Stand down!"

And the Dalek complied; as the gun stick lowered a smile faintly appeared on the Doctor's lips as he faced his old enemy once more.

"It was the perfect plan, wasn't it?" he mused, "Create a being capable of mining Earth of its life forms - starting with the children. I expect you had another plan for the adults, what was it, slavery?"

And Davros glared at him.

A satisfied look lit up the Doctor's eyes.

"I knew I was right!" he told him, "I knew it because you _never_ change! That's what makes you so predictable!"

And he ran his hand down the globe, feeling immense satisfaction as he saw the look of fear in the eyes of Davros as he reached for a small hatch.

"Come here, Janey."

As he called her name, Janey got up and ran over to him, standing close at his side as she tried to block out the sight of the Daleks and the man who controlled them, remembering the Doctor believed they could get out of here alive now - she was starting to see that was possible...

The Doctor toyed with the hatch that opened into the sphere.

"You see this, Janey? It's the nerve centre that controls the parasite. It's been fed human DNA, so it knows what to go after. It's quite a clever composition of energy, too. Dalek technology... you've got to hand it to them, this thing is immune to weapons, to fire, to most good old-fashioned spanners that could be thrown into the works..."

And then he smiled as that manic gleam appeared in his eyes once more and he locked his gaze on Davros.

"But there's one thing that your creation isn't immune to," he said, holding up his diamond tie pin, "it won't like carbon very much...and guess what else?"

As he turned the tie pin around, the diamond glittered in the light – and something green and glistening dripped from the end of the pin.

"I'm re-educating your parasite before it explodes," he told him darkly, "I'm giving it a taste for something else – _Dalek!_"

And the Doctor flipped open the hatch and dropped the tie pin inside. The swirling fire within the sphere began to gather speed as it struggled to contain the carbon, as it processed the new DNA that had been fed into its nerve centre.

As the globe began to shudder, Davros let out a roar.

"_NO!"_ he yelled.

But the Doctor had drawn out the remote control from his pocket and hit a button,and with a wheeze and a groan and a flash of a blue light, the Tardis materialised.

Davros glared at the Doctor, and then hit a switch on his half - Dalek casing, reversing towards the doorway.

"_Abandon ship!"_ he shouted, and the Doctor grabbed Janey's hand.

"I hope you can run fast, "he told her as he glanced at the shaking globe, "because that thing's about to explode!"

* * *

Janey gripped his hand tighter and he turned towards the Tardis, dashing for the doorway as he dragged her with him.

He slammed against the door and shoved it open, pulling her in and closed the door as he breathlessly ran for the Tardis console.

"_Shit, shields!"_ he yelled, slamming down a lever.

"Not again!" Janey said in alarm.

The Doctor's gaze was fixed on the controls as he quickly replied, "No – shields are not shit, I meant, shit – I mustn't forget to raise them up –"

And he shoved a lever upwards, as a boom resounded from beyond the Tardis and he lunged forward, hitting the space - time controls, knowing he had to trust in the old girl to get them out, because there was no time left...

The Tardis lurched, spinning as it was caught in the blast as the sphere exploded, then it was gone, slipping out into space and as the control room fell calm and steady, the Doctor hit a button and slid open the view of space beyond.

Janey gave a gasp as she saw the giant creature tearing towards the wounded Dalek vessel, its mouth open.

As the ship was swallowed inside the creature, its body convulsed and as the blackness of space was lit up by an explosion that seemed to spread everywhere, a single, dark, fast-moving object shot from the heart of the fireball, off into space and grew smaller by the second until it shimmered like a star and then disappeared.

The Doctor's eyes filed with anger.

_"Bastard!"_ he yelled, thumping the console.

Then he grabbed at his fragile human hand.

"Fuck it, that hurt!"

Janey stared at him: The creature was gone, along with the Dalek ship, all lost in the explosion, scattered into nothingness, yet the Doctor was angry...

"What's the matter?" she asked him,"We did it, we stopped the Daleks and we stopped the creature –"

"But we didn't stop _him_!" the Doctor said bitterly, "That small object that broke away from the ship was his escape vessel! _Davros got away!_"

Janey saw such anger in his eyes, more than she could measure, the kind of anger that had built up between him and his old enemy for centuries.

She gently put her hands on his shoulders and looked into his eyes.

"We did it," she said again gently, "the Daleks are gone. The creature is gone. This is what we set out to do, we can get on with our lives now."

As he turned towards the window that now reflected nothing but starlit space, bitterness still simmered within him as he thought of Davros.

"Until next time," he said, "Davros won't give up, he'll go on to build another army, bring another threat to Earth..."

Janey gently stroked his hair and then placed her hand on his cheek.

"But not today," she reminded him, "and not tomorrow - perhaps he will _never_ come back. Let's just be happy, can't we do that?"

Finally the last trace of bitterness left him and the Doctor managed a smile as he looked into the eyes of the woman he loved.

"We can certainly try," he told her, and he pulled her closer, held her tightly and tried to think about the future, even though his gaze shifted off to the view of space beyond the Tardis, and resentment settled deep in his heart at the knowledge that Davros still lived...

* * *

The Tardis landed smoothly and the Doctor smiled at Janey.

As he looked at her, he recalled her words – they had done what they set out to do, now they could get on with life...

"Are you sure about this?" he asked her, still thinking about her response when they had shifted dimension and he had asked where she would like to go first.

She smiled back at him.

"I'm very sure about this," she told him, "I'm going to the club, I'm telling the boss I'm going away for a while - then I'm going home to see my Mum and my sister, just so they don't worry about me."

"And then were leaving," he added hopefully.

Janey's smile got bigger and brighter.

"Yes we are," she promised him.

And she leaned closer, kissed him, and then hurried out of the Tardis to go back into the flat and pack a few belongings.

As the Doctor waited for her, thoughts of Davros and old battles began to slide away, replaced by thoughts of the future, a happy future, with no more darkness, no more enemies on the horizon.

And then Janey hurried back into the Tardis carrying a heavy bag. She shivered and shook snow from her dark hair and laughed as she looked at him.

"I hope it's warm where ever were going," she said,"I've had enough of snow!"

And then her smile faded.

The Doctor was looking at her as if he had seen a ghost...

"What's wrong?" she asked him.

The Doctor blinked and carried on staring at her; she was wearing that skimpy white dress, the one his hazy old mind had recalled, along with the sight of a gun going off and blood seeping through her clothing as she slid to the floor...

_"I don't think we should go to the club."_

"Alec won't be there - just the boss. He's a nice fella, he deserves to know I'm leaving. It wont take five minutes, then I can go and say goodbye to my family. What's the matter, you wanted me to do this, why are you looking at me like that?"

The Doctor frowned as he slowly shook his head.

He turned to the Tardis console and hit some buttons, then watched as the crystals glowed within its heart.

"Nothings wrong, just give me five minutes, I forgot to do something..."

Janey fell silent, watching as he stood before the console, fiddling about with the sonic screwdriver. He held it up in line with the glowing crystals and tapped a button and the tip of the sonic device briefly glowed, and then he put it back in his coat pocket.

"Right," he said in a voice edged with tension, "let's get this over with."

And the Tardis vanished, shifting off into another time and place - a place he did _not_ want to go to...

* * *

As the Tardis landed once more, the Doctor checked the sonic screwdriver and lingered for a moment at the console.

"Don't let me down," he murmured, and Janey wondered what he meant, but then she turned and left the Tardis and the Doctor quickly followed after her.

The Tardis was up tight against the brick wall of the club, it was on the main road and cars were passing by, oblivious to the fact that the blue box had mysteriously appeared there at the roadside in the blink of an eye.

As she made her way around to the back entrance, the Doctor caught her arm.

"I'm coming in there with you!"

She saw such alarm in his eyes that she couldn't make sense of it – the danger was over now; they had a future to look forward to...

"You need to calm down," she reminded him, "it's over now, it's all okay...come with me if you must, but this won't take five minutes."

And she knocked on the door. A man in a suit who he guessed had to be a bouncer let her in. The man glanced at the Doctor and Janey smiled, explaining:

"He's with me..."

Then she led the way down a long, pale corridor, her footsteps in high heels falling softly on a slightly worn, green carpet. They climbed a flight of stairs and reached a door at the back of the club and Janey noticed it was ajar, so she glanced back at the Doctor, told him to wait there, and then pushed it open and walked in.

"Mike," she said warmly,"I just stopped by to tell you I won't be dancing tonight – or any other night. I'm grateful for all the help you've given me with all the shifts and stuff, but I'm leaving." And she paused, took in a sharp breath and added, "Don't tell Alec. He sort of had me doing a favour for him and I'm cutting ties."

And the man who sat in the chair behind the desk, who had faced the window, turned around.

As she saw it was Alec sitting in the chair, she caught her breath.

"Mike's not in today, so I said I'd take care of the place for him. And I was just about to call you, Janey. Plans have changed. I've got another job for you - tonight."

Then he fixed her with a cold stare.

"What did you say just now, you're _not _coming back? You won't run out on me, girl..."

And from where he stood out of sight behind the half closed door, the Doctor stared at the wall behind Janey...he had seen that wall before, it was the wall she would slide down as blood leaked from the gunshot wound that would kill her...

He took a step closer and silently drew the charged-up sonic screwdriver from his pocket, watching for Stubbs to draw his gun, knowing he would have to pull out the screwdriver at the same time if he stood any chance of his plan working...

"No," Janey said firmly, "it ends now! I won't be here, I'll be gone – you can't stop me!"

Stubbs got up and walked around the desk. As he grabbed at Janey's face she gave a frightened gasp. He forced her to look up and into his eyes.

"You will do whatever I tell you to do," he said, indicating to a zipped up holdall on the desk, "you did the deal with me, you pay me back my way – you take the risks so I don't have to. And if you don't, I'll kill you."

As the scene unfolded, the Doctor felt a rising sense of dread:

_Her plans for her new life had strengthened her resolve to walk away from Stubbs and his dangerous line of work, she was even willing to stand up to him - that was her biggest mistake..._

Janey fought back, kicking out and as he let go she staggered back, her eyes blazing.

"I've taken on bigger and nastier things than you!" she spat, "And I'm not afraid of you any more...if you try and stop me walking out of here, I'll tell the police everything!"

And the Doctor gave a gasp... _That was why she was shot? Because she threatened to go to the police?_

"Oh Janey, no!" he whispered, and his hand trembled as he reached into his pocket for the sonic screwdriver.

He tried not to think about how recent his regeneration had been, or how messed up his memory was – he hoped he had set the power from the Tardis to give up just enough for the screwdriver to absorb, it was just enough to work in a small area, for a few seconds. It _would_ work, as long as he had configured the settings correctly, and that was something he wasn't sure of, because he was still recovering from his regeneration...

Janey was struggling with Stubbs. She kicked again and he staggered back, shoving her away as he reached into his jacket.

"You won't tell anyone!" he said darkly, and Janey's eyes widened in fear as she saw the gun he raised in his left hand.

_Stubbs pulled the trigger._

_And the Doctor hit the button on the sonic screwdriver, sending a ripple through the room._

In that second the world was frozen, at least in this small space within the office.

The Doctor stepped between Stubbs and Janey.

Stubbs still had his finger on the trigger; Janey was frozen backing towards the wall with a look of terror in her eyes.

The bullet was frozen in mid-air and he reached out and plucked it from where it hovered. Then he slipped the bullet into his pocket and took the gun from Stubbs, before hitting another button on the sonic device and as the ripple passed through the room again, Janey staggered back, hitting the wall as she caught her breath in fright.

Then she blinked.

"_Doctor?"_

Stubbs stared at him in disbelief, wondering how this man had suddenly appeared in front of him - the bullet was nowhere to be seen, it hadn't hit Janey, it hadn't hit the wall either and now the man Janey called Doctor was right in front of him, aiming his own gun in his face...

"What the..." he began, but the Doctor drew out a wallet from his picket and flipped it open.

"Police," he stated.

Stubbs read the words on the paper and looked back at him in confusion.

"_Show me your bra?"_

The Doctor shoved the wallet back into his coat.

"Bloody psychic paper!" he said, "It's still got that thought imprinted on it!"

And then he glanced briefly at Janey.

"Call the police."

Janey nodded and hurried from the room.

* * *

Stubbs lunged at the gun and the Doctor staggered back, hurling the weapon towards the door as he struggled with his assailant.

Then Stubbs aimed a punch and the Doctor ducked, but Stubbs came at him again.

The Doctor slammed his fist against the man's jaw and as he stumbled back, stunned by the blow, the Doctor grabbed the bag of money and raced towards the fire escape.

Stubbs was chasing after him as he wrenched open the door, but the Doctor kicked out as he reached him, then took to the metal stairway, hurrying up to the rooftop.

He ran to the edge and looked down. There was a drop of around twenty feet on to another flat roof, the roof of the nightclub. He saw a ladder and stepped forward but then heard Stubbs running up behind him.

The Doctor turned around, aware he was dangerously close to the edge as he grabbed at the zip on the bag and pulled it open. The money began to flutter in the cold, sharp breeze like wings of birds impatient for flight.

"Give me the money!" Stubbs said breathlessly, "Just give it back..."

In the distance, sirens wailed and Stubbs had the look of a desperate man about his eyes as he thought of how it was all over and his only chance would be to grab the money and run...

"It's too late!" the Doctor replied, "You're going nowhere, Stubbs."

As flashing lights approached below, Stubbs lunged at the Doctor and the two of them struggled on the edge of the rooftop as the bag tipped and money showered down to the next level far below.

* * *

Janey was making her way on to the roof from the fire escape.

She ran halfway across and stopped, oblivious to the icy wind that chilled her flesh as she stood there in her skimpy dress and watched helplessly as the two men fought on the edge of the roof.

She wanted to call his name, but was afraid of distracting him, the Doctor was struggling with Stubbs and as he fought back, the Doctor let go of the bag and the rest of the money disappeared over the edge of the rooftop.

Anger raged in his eyes as Stubbs gave him a shove.

The Doctor grabbed hold of his jacket as he tried to steady himself.

Then Stubbs fell against him and the Doctor slipped off the edge, both men fell as Janey screamed.

For a moment Janey stood in silence, staring at the empty rooftop, and then she ran over to the edge.

As she looked down, she caught her breath and then began to weep.

Stubbs was on his side, his eyes open, his neck at such an angle it had to be broken. The Doctor was on his back, eyes closed, not moving as blood ran from beneath his still body. The last of the money was fluttering around, picked up and lifted into the air by a strengthening wind.

Janey gave a sob as she looked down at the scene below:

_The Doctor wasn't moving...he looked as dead as Stubbs..._


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Janey had sat alone in the blank corridor as she waited for news on the Doctor.

The world had become a blur of confusion after the fall from the rooftop – Janey had stood in shock as Alec's body had been taken away while the paramedics worked to get the Doctor stable enough to move him. The police had asked questions; Janey had kept her mouth shut about her knowledge of Stubbs dealings, saying she had walked into the office, found him counting the money and he had pulled a gun and her friend had defended her. When asked what her friend's name was, she had soon realised 'Doctor' wasn't enough, and had added, "Smith – John Smith," purely because it seemed as good a false name as any.

The police had let her go and she had gone straight to the hospital, only to be told he was still in the emergency room.

Janey had sat down alone in the corridor and quietly sobbed as a single thought ran through her mind:

_He was only human..._

In her arms she clutched his coat. The back of the collar was bloodstained, but it still carried the scent of him and she swore if she hugged it tight enough, it almost seemed as if he was there in her arms, safe once more.

_But he wasn't safe._

The man who had taken on Davros and his army and won had been terribly injured because of the fall from the roof.

The more she thought about it, the more it hurt to think that he had gone through such danger to fight off an alien invasion - and then a fight on Earth with a man as human as he was had left him hovering between life and death...

She recalled how he had promised her she would be safe if she left with him and went off in the Tardis. He had been right, but he hadn't realised what dangers earth posed for him, too...and now it was too late to undo any of it.

Then someone sat down in the seat beside her and gently touched her arm.

She turned around to see her brother looking at her sadly.

"I'm so sorry, Sis," Ritchie said, "I came as soon as I got your message."

Tears filled Janey's eyes.

"They had a fight," she said quietly, "I couldn't do anything to help him - he just fell..."

"How bad is he?" Ritchie asked her.

Janey wiped her eyes and paused for a moment, still finding the information the doctors had given her hard to believe.

"He's got a lot of broken bones," she said in a hushed voice, "internal injuries...they don't think he's going to make it."

And she gave a sob and her brother pulled her closer, and Janey wept against his shoulder.

* * *

It was much later in the afternoon when a nurse finally told Janey she could see him.

As she pushed open the door and went into the room where the Doctor lay fighting for his life, Ritchie followed her in and said nothing, because there was nothing he could say to take away his sister's heartbreak as she saw him lying in bed, surrounded by monitors, bandaged and pale and showing no sign of waking up.

Janey sat down next to his bed and took hold of the Doctor's hand.

"I know you said you have a fragile human body," she said softly, "but you have to fight, Doctor! Please don't leave me now, I've only just met you, I'm not ready to say goodbye."

And she reached out and gently brushed his dark hair off his bruised face.

"It wasn't supposed to end like this," she said as her voice began to break up, "I thought it was going to be you and me, going off in the Tardis together...we stopped the Daleks, that's how it's supposed to end, not like this, not with broken bones..."

And she gave a sob and her brother stepped closer and put his arm around her shoulder.

And then as Janey let go of the Doctor's hand and clutched tightly at his coat that was still in her arms, something slipped from the pocket and dangled from a silver chain.

Janey watched as the Tardis key spun on the end of the chain, catching the light.

Then she straightened up and shrugged off her brother's effort at comfort and snatched up the key.

"What's wrong?" he wondered as she gripped the key and stared at it intently.

"He said they were one..._him and the Tardis_..."

She got up from her seat and turned to her brother.

_"I know what to do!"_

She glanced back at the Doctor.

"I know what to do," she said again, and then she hurried from the room and her brother hurried after her, as he wondered if Janey was losing her mind...

* * *

Ritchie followed her out of the hospital.

Janey looked left and right and hurried across the snowy car park, finding an empty space in the corner.

"What are you doing?" he asked her, feeling bewildered as Janey reached into the pocket of the Doctors coat and drew out a small silver device.

"I've got nothing to lose by trying," she said, pointing the device skywards as determination burned in her eyes and she pressed the button.

There was flicker above in the darkening sky, then the brief sight of a blue box revolving downwards, it hit the ground easily as a blue light flashed on the top and a groan sounded, then the Tardis fell silent.

Janey smiled hopefully as she looked at her brother.

"But how..." he began, and Janey just shook her head, reaching for the Doctors Tardis key.

"There's no time to explain...come with me."

And she unlocked the door and went inside.

As her brother followed, he stood just inside the Tardis and stared at the size of the place.

"No way...how can this be so –"

"It's bigger on the inside," Janey replied, walking over to the console.

She placed her hands on the polished wood and looked around the room; it was still brightly lit, but the console was silent, the lights were out and the crystals in the centre were dull and lifeless now.

"The Doctor and the Tardis are one," she said to her brother, who still looked stunned as he joined her at the console, "so I'm hoping the Tardis can pull him back from this...as long as he's alive there should be something left inside the heart of the Tardis, do you see?"

Her brother shook his head.

"I...I don't know what's going on, but I know what I can see with my own eyes... you said they're one?"

Janey nodded.

"As long as he's alive there has to be some power left in the Tardis... his remote control brought it back here, so it worked, the Tardis _can_ still work..."

She looked intently at the darkened crystals.

"Come on," she said, "you can't give up...he's still alive... _help_ him!"

And the room stayed silent and the crystals remained dark.

Janey pressed her hands harder on the polished wooden console as she fixed her gaze on the darkened heart of the controls.

"Please," she begged, "I believe you can do it...I saw those sparkles come out of you when he needed help with the regeneration...he won't die if you help him! I've seen it, I saw your magic. Make it happen again, I believe you can..."

And then something flickered deep in the centre of the crystals. It flickered and sparked as if a glow was growing deep down in the heart of the Tardis.

Janey gave a gasp as the flickering light began to rise through the centre of the console.

"_I believe in your magic..."_ she said in a hushed voice, and then she turned to her brother.

"Do you believe in magic, Ritchie?"

Her brother watched as the sparkles flitted upwards through the columns in the heart of the console, like flickering lights rising through the crystals.

"I can see it," he said, "so yeah, I believe in it too..."

Janey began to smile as hope filled her heart.

"Put your hands on the console!" she told her brother, "And keep watching the lights! Keep believing in them, this is working, this is what we need the Tardis to do..."

Ritchie kept his hands on the console and fixed his gaze on the flickers of light that rose through the crystal columns.

"_I believe in magic," _Janey whispered.

"So do I," Ritchie added.

And the sparks flew out of the crystal columns like tiny fireflies, Janey watched in wonder as they whirled around, then flitted closer, zipping around her and then she reached up, snatched them in her hand and brought them to her lips.

Her brother stared at her as the flickering seemed to shimmer dimly in her eyes, then she took in a sharp breath.

"I can't keep this inside!" she gasped, "I have to give it to him, he needs it, the doctor needs this now!"

And she hurried from the Tardis and her brother followed.

* * *

As they walked back into the hospital, Ritchie kept glancing at Janey as she quickened her pace.

The lights flickered about her mouth, sparked behind her eyes. Such a small amount of power had been given up by the Tardis as the doctor lay dying and the Tardis also prepared to die, but that power was burning bright now, the glow seemed to get even brighter as they got closer to the Doctors room.

As her brother opened the door, Janey stumbled inside, feeling as if the power she contained within her was fighting to get out. As she walked over to the Doctor's bed she understood; of course it was fighting to get out, it had come from the Tardis, it was seeking him out because its purpose was to heal...

She drew in a breath as she leaned over him and sparkles shimmered on her lips and glowed in her eyes.

"We believed in magic," she whispered, "and it worked, the Tardis gave up some power...not much, but a tiny bit of magic, so please let this work, _please_...I believe in it, I believe in the magic that can heal you.."

As he saw the lights shimmer about his sister's face, Ritchie spoke up too.

"I believe in it too," he added, "because I saw it happen..."

Janey was a fraction away from the Doctor's face. She ran her hand over his hair and watched as he lay there unresponsive.

"Please let this work," she whispered, "The Tardis gave up power for you, it gave up the same magic that healed you before...I believe it can save you..."

Janey paused, looking at her injured lover as tears formed in her eyes.

"But most of all," she said softly," I believe in _you_, Doctor."

And she leaned closer, her lips touching his; the light flowed gently between them, flickering like fireflies as she kissed him.

And the flickering lights melted away into the Doctor's body, but as Janey drew back, he remained unconscious.

"It _has _to work," she whispered, "I can't do any more -"

Then as she stumbled as exhaustion overtook her, Ritchie caught her arm and steadied her up.

"You need to go home and get some rest," he told her.

Janey glanced back at the Doctor as tears ran down her face.

"I can't do that! They said he might not live, I can't leave him -"

"You're about to collapse!" Ritchie reminded her, "This has left you exhausted. You're no good to him like this. Let me take you home, you can come back in the morning."

And Janey looked back at the Doctor, but then her legs buckled again and she leaned against her brother, glad of his support, and even though home was the last place she wanted to go while the Doctor was so seriously hurt, she knew she had no choice in the matter.

* * *

_Janey fell asleep long after midnight._

She had fought against her exhaustion as she lay crying on her pillow, she had stayed awake for hours, listening for the phone to ring, fearing bad news, then she had thought about the Doctor, alone and badly injured, and her heart had broken all over again.

Her brother had stayed over at the flat, he was in the spare room, sleeping in the same room the Doctor had first stayed in and even though Janey wished she had the strength to get up and go to him and turn on the light and ask him to sit with her, to talk to her, to stop her going insane with worry, she couldn't do it. Transferring the energy had left her weak, more than that - opening the door and recalling the memory of the Doctor in the spare room after he had suffered his sudden regeneration would have been too much.

It made her wish she was up there now, in the blackness of space, in that far away place where things liked to hide and not all of them were good – because _anything_ would be better than to stay here and wait for the man she loved to die...

Eventually, after recalling every moment she had spent with the man from Gallifrey who owned a blue box, after remembering his crazy moods and his impatient kisses, and his determination to fight evil purely because he loved her and wanted her planet spared, Janey closed her eyes and slipped into an uneasy sleep. Her last thought was that she never, ever wanted to forget his face. Even if he died tomorrow, she wanted to carry her love for him in her heart and the memory of his face in her mind forever...

* * *

_The Doctor was barely clinging on to life._

_His fragile human body was shattered by the fall from the rooftop._

_He was vaguely aware of his situation, somewhere in his mind he knew his body was destroyed and his mind was drifting and would eventually separate from the broken human form he currently occupied. _

_He thought he was awake as he felt the warmth and strength of the Tardis creeping into his bones, sliding into cracks and breaks and pulling together shattered and bleeding organs. But he felt little pain, only the sense of drifting was taking over now._

_He tried to open his eyes but was unable to do so._

_The Doctor felt an ache in his heart as he thought of Janey._

_Then he thought very hard about Janey, summoning what remained of his life force as he reached out to her._

_The warmth from the Tardis was settling into his body now._

_He didn't know if it meant he would have a painless death, but he welcomed the feeling._

_And as he welcomed it, he reached out further, to Janey's side, and through the ether, whispered her name._

* * *

Janey was pulled out of sleep as someone called to her.

Then he called to her again.

_"Janey..."_

She sat up and blinked, searching the darkened room yet seeing no one.

Then she wondered if she had been dreaming – until the Doctor said her name again.

_"Janey...I'm over here..."_

She got out of bed and turned to the window, giving a gasp as she saw the Doctor standing beside the curtain, his form was almost transparent and he stood before her in his suit and his coat with the velvet lapels and a diamond pin glittered in his silk tie.

Janey stared at him for a moment and then slowly walked towards him, stopping short of touching him; she was afraid to reach out and try to do that because to her, he looked like a ghost...

"Doctor?" her voice was choked with tears as she wondered again if he was indeed a ghost.

The Doctor stood there with sadness in his eyes as he looked back at her.

"You can't touch me so don't try," he said, "I'm projecting my image to you...and I can't hold on much longer..."

He paused, briefly wrapping his arms about his body as he drew in a sharp breath and pain made his image ripple.

Then he breathed deeply and straightened up once more.

"I don't have much time, but you did the right thing, clever girl Janey – you recalled the Tardis and drew up a small amount of energy...the Tardis doesn't have much of a reserve while I'm so –"

He caught his breath again as pain etched on his face.

Janey blinked away tears as she stood helpless, unable to stop his pain.

"Power," the Doctor said weakly as the pain ebbed away, "I was trying to say, the Tardis doesn't have much energy to give out because I'm so weak...but it's enough to heal a lot of the damage..."

And as he looked at her, tears blurred his own vision.

"But not _all_ of it," he added, "this is what I have to explain – I love you, Janey, I love you so much and this is _not_ goodbye, it's just –"

The Doctor shimmered, faded and vanished.

Janey stood there staring at the spot where his ghostly image had been and she gave a sob.

"Doctor?" she said, "Please come back, please..."

But his image did not return, and Janey stood alone, weeping in the darkened bedroom.

* * *

When morning came Janey rose early, she had listened all night for the sound of the phone ringing, she had expected a call to say the Doctor was gone.

_But that call had not arrived._

Her brother offered to make breakfast but Janey had just shook her head and looked out towards the garden, recalling the sight of the Tardis when the Doctor had left it in the yard.

"_I saw him last night,"_ she said quietly.

Ritchie had just handed her a cup of coffee, she barely seemed to notice how harshly the heat crept through the china mug as she cradled it in her hands and steam rose, filling the room with the scent of morning in the way that only coffee could.

"What do you mean?" he asked her.

Janey glanced at her brother.

"I woke up in the night and I could see him, he looked fine, he didn't have a scratch on him- but he was transparent, like a ghost. He said I'd done the right thing with the Tardis, and then he said the power couldn't fix everything – but it wasn't goodbye. And he went to say something else, but he vanished."

Her brother just shook his head.

"I don't know what to make of that. Are you sure it wasn't a dream?"

"He was there," Janey replied.

After seeing the Tardis, Ritchie was ready to believe and accept anything – even if it seemed to defy logic.

"We should get back to the hospital and see how he's doing," he told her.

* * *

When they reached the hospital, as Janey went inside, worry began to cloud her eyes.

"I'm scared," she said to her brother, "if he was okay, why did I see him last night? He was trying to tell me something...oh no, what if he's still dying? What if the power from the Tardis wasn't enough?"

And they walked up the corridor, Ritchie saying nothing, because again, he knew there were no words that could take away his sister's fears for the man she loved.

As they reached the door to the Doctor's room, a tall, middle-aged woman in a white coat approached them. Janey recognised her as the doctor who she had spoken to the day before. Her hand had rested on the door handle, she had been about to go into his room, but as the woman asked if she could speak with her, Janey let go of the door, stepping back as she waited to hear news that she was not ready to deal with.

She knew it was going to be bad before the doctor began to explain; she had caught the look in her eyes and it was one that said she was about to break some very bad news...

"Your friend has made some unexpected improvements," the doctor told her, "and we can't explain it...I can only assume we made a mistake when he was brought in... His vital signs are stable and the life threatening injuries he suffered are gone. He still has cuts and bruises, superficial wounds – but the massive internal damage seems to be non-existent."

Janey thought of the power the Tardis had shared and started to smile.

But as she saw the grave look in the doctor's eyes, she knew for certain that bad news was also about to be given and her smile faded.

"So what's wrong?" she asked in a hushed voice.

The doctor paused, gathered her thoughts on what had been a very puzzling case and tried to break the news as gently as she could:

"He had a severe head injury from the fall. According to his scan results, that's also healed. But he can't wake up. He's in a coma and we don't know why. I'm so sorry, I can't tell you any more than we understand about his condition. He may _never_ wake up."

Janey's eyes blurred with tears as she recalled the Doctor's message: he had told her the power the Tardis was able to give up was not enough to heal everything...

"And there's something else," the doctor told her, "something about one of his scan results...I'll need to talk to you about it soon, it looks as if he may have a serious condition, not related to his accident. "

Janey looked at her in confusion as she blinked away tears.

"I just want to be with him," she said tearfully, and wrenched open the door and went into his room.

"We'll have to talk about this another time," Ritchie added as he glanced back at the doctor, "my sister can't do this now, she's heartbroken."

And the doctor nodded and left the room.

* * *

Janey sat beside the Doctor's bed and gently touched his bruised face.

"What was it you tried to say last night?" she asked him as she watched him laying there motionless, "You said this is not goodbye, what did you mean?"

But the Doctor gave no reply, showed no flicker of a response to even suggest he knew she was there.

Janey looked at her brother.

"I won't give up on him," she said, "I'll be here for him as long as it takes; I'll never give up..."

* * *

_The days passed by._

Janey spent hours every day at the Doctor's bedside, but he showed no sign of improvement.

Her brother stayed with her at the flat, not wanting to leave her alone while she was so distraught.

Janey had lost many hours sleep as she lay awake, hoping to see the Doctor appear again – but as the days went on, she had no more ghostly visits and each time she went to the hospital, there was no change in his condition.

By the end of the week, the snow had started to melt and the sun was coming out from behind clouds that no longer held heavy snowfall. The world seemed to be brightening up, but to Janey none of that mattered; all she wanted to do was walk into the Doctors room and see him open his eyes...

Ritchie had stayed home at the flat that day, Janey had gone into the hospital alone, and as she walked up the corridor towards the Doctor's room, her heart felt heavy as she wondered if this was how things would always be – he had said, it was not goodbye – perhaps he had meant he wouldn't die, but he wouldn't recover, either...

Janey opened the door and walked into the Doctor's room.

She stood there in shock as she looked at the empty bed, her heart pounding as she feared the worst.

* * *

Ritchie had been making tea in the kitchen when he heard a wheeze and a groan, caught the flash of a blue light through the glass kitchen door.

He hurried outside, surprised to see the Tardis had materialised in the back garden.

Then the door opened and the Doctor stepped out.

Ritchie stared at him:

The Doctor was wearing an immaculate suit and a diamond pin glittered in his tie. His coat had been cleaned up and looked spotless now - the only sign that he had been in an accident were the faint traces of bruising still visible below his left eye.

The Doctor smiled as he closed the Tardis door.

"Where's your sister?"

As he walked over to the kitchen doorway, Ritchie was still staring at him.

"How did you recover so quickly? I thought you was in a coma..."

The Doctor ran his hand over his dark hair, wincing as he accidentally brushed against a bruise behind his hairline that still ached.

"The power from the Tardis was enough to heal my life threatening injuries. But the rest was up to me – so I shut myself down for a few days to complete the process. I woke up this morning and left the hospital."

And he asked him again, "Where's Janey?"

"She went to the hospital to see you."

The Doctor glanced at his watch.

"Then I'd better wait here, once she knows I'm gone she'll come looking for me - I'd imagine her place is an obvious choice."

Ritchie was still staring as he wondered how the Doctor could have healed himself so rapidly.

"You're completely recovered?"

The Doctor stepped inside and shut the kitchen door.

"Yes," he replied, "apart from the superficial stuff - now I'm on my last regeneration the Tardis can't give up as much energy for me as she used to. I'm healed inside, but I've still got a few bruises."

And then he smiled.

"Put the kettle on, Ritchie – I'd love a cup of tea!"

* * *

As Janey stood alone in the hospital room and stared at the empty bed, her heart raced with fear.

"Oh no..." she said under her breath.

Then someone entered the room and she turned around, eyes blurred with tears, and realised the doctor who had been treating him had just come in.

"Your friend woke up and discharged himself," she told her, "and once again, I can't explain his recovery. But you need to find him you need to ask him to come back here. He's got a condition that he's not aware of."

Janey smiled as she shook her head.

"If you mean he's a bit up and down, that's just the way he is, I think he's a bit bipolar? But he doesn't seem to be too bad with it, he gets on with his life okay –"

"I'm talking about something physical," she told her, and held out a scan result, "I'm very sorry, Janey – but your friend has a serious problem, and I've never seen anything like this before. He needs to make an appointment with a specialist as soon as possible."

Janey took the scan from her and held it up against the light that filtered through the window.

She looked at the image for several minutes, and then she turned back to the doctor, who was confused to see Janey's eyes had lit up and there was a smile on her face now.

"Don't worry about the specialist," she told her, _"Believe me, I know a Doctor who needs to see this!"_

And she dashed from the room and hurried down the corridor, clutching tightly at the scan result. As she made her way outside, noticed the Tardis was gone now.

Then she called a taxi, hoping the one place the Doctor had gone would be back to the flat...

* * *

The Doctor had just finished his cup of tea when he heard a car door close outside.

He set the cup down on the table and got up, hurrying from the kitchen and through the hallway.

As she walked up the path, he opened the door.

Janey stopped walking and stared at him.

He smiled at her.

"Yes, I'm okay," he told her, and stepped off the porch on to the pathway.

Janey's eyes lit up with joy and she ran to him, jumping into his arms as he hugged her, lifting her feet from the ground as he kissed her before letting her go again.

"I've missed you!" she said as her eyes shone with happiness.

"Just don't squeeze me too tightly," the Doctor told her, "I managed to get the serious wounds healed up, but I've still got bruises, I'm black and blue all over... be gentle!"

And she slid her arms around him and they kissed again.

As the Doctor broke away from their kiss, he looked into her eyes and she noticed a flicker of sadness there.

"I've been having second thoughts," he told her, "about us going off in the Tardis. What happened made me think, this is my last life and I'm getting old, Janey. Maybe I should just stay here with you on Earth and have a nice quiet life. It seems like the best bet for an old Time Lord with one life and one heart."

And Janey's eyes sparkled.

"_Two."_ She said to him.

The Doctor blinked.

"No Janey, I only have one heart."

And Janey held up the scan of the Doctor's chest.

His eyes widened and he snatched it from her, held the scan up to the sky and studied the small branch that ran from his human heart, to the other side of his chest, ending in a very small cluster of muscle, it was tiny, but it _was_ there...

The Doctor started to laugh.

"I've got two hearts!" he said excitedly, hugging Janey and kissing her again.

Ritchie had joined them at the door and he watched the scene unfold as the Doctor kissed Janey again, and happiness shone in his eyes.

_"I've got two!"_ he said joyfully.

"But the second ones only small," Janey reminded him, "It's barely there...I don't think it's got much function."

_"But it's_ _there!_" the Doctor said, "That's all that matters...I _do_ have two hearts!"

Just as he spoke, a young couple walked past in the street, hand in hand as they headed for the bus stop.

They glanced at the man who was talking excitedly in the front garden and as they caught his eye the Doctor turned and smiled at them.

"I'm _so_ happy!" he exclaimed,_ "All that matters is I've got one. Okay, its tiny, I have a small one – but size isn't everything, is it? I've got a little one, it's no bigger than my little finger – but I'm so happy it's there!"_

And the couple exchanged a mystified glance and quickly walked on as Janey stifled a giggle.

"I'm not sure they knew you were talking about a _heart_," she said with a bemused look in her eyes.

The Doctor was still overjoyed.

"This changes everything!" he said excitedly.

* * *

As he went back through the house, Janey followed.

Ritchie followed too, watching as the Doctor and his sister went out into the garden where the Tardis stood against the wall.

As the Doctor looked into Janey's eyes, he seemed full of new hope for the future.

"It's a time machine," he reminded her, gesturing to the Tardis, "You don't have to say goodbye to anyone – I can bring you back here any time you want- there's no need for goodbyes, we could just leave right now, if you wanted to."

Her brother looked at them both in confusion

"Leave?" he wondered, "Where are you going?"

The Doctor and Janey exchanged a glance, both smiling, and then Janey looked back at her brother.

"Amazing places," she told him, "I know space is dark and things like to hide it, but space can be beautiful too. We're going to have an adventure - _our_ adventure, and it's going to be wonderful."

"One more thing before we leave," the Doctor added, "I hope you'll accept this now, Janey."

And he took out the spare Tardis key from his pocket and held it up.

Janey looked at the key.

"It's the key to our new life,"she said.

"And the key to my heart," he replied.

Their eyes met. They both smiled.

Janey reached up and snatched the key, then the Doctor took her by the hand and they hurried inside the Tardis.

The blue box groaned and wheezed, the lights flashed.

Janey's brother stared as the box began to dematerialise.

"Sis?" he said, but the Tardis was fading out.

And then the Tardis vanished, taking Janey and the Doctor off to another time and place, together into a dimension where space was dark, but no bad things were hiding. This wasn't the end, this was the start of the greatest adventure of their lives – going far off to wonderful places where no trouble would find them, and everything they did next, they would do together.

The End.

**Note from Author - There *may* be more stories in this series. I've enjoyed writing this story and it's quite possible this fic will have a second or third installment - at some point. Hope it's been a good read. ~Aline Riva~**


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